Advice needed: travel route from Hartford to EWR

[lizzygreen]

We will be flying out of EWR for the first time on Friday, April 12. Flight is at 9:15pm. We will be leaving Hartford at 3:15 (hubby picking me up at work to get on the road ASAP. Does anyone have any suggestions as to the best route? I know we will be hitting rush hour, but there's not much I can do to change the time. I was thinking 84/684/crossing the Tappanzee/ and working our way from there (I haven't looked up actual route numbers from the map for the Jersey part of the trip. I will do that.) But - this is an area I do not travel to often. Is 84/684/Tapanzee generally the best plan for avoiding NYC traffic as much as possible? Is there a better way? Any suggestions for routes to take/avoid are welcome!

Also, planning on parking at Park Plus Airport Parking based upon a friend's recommendation. Anyone else have experience with them?

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[NJRRK]

From the Tappan Zee to EWR you have two choices.

1 - Off of I-87/I-287 exit onto the Palisades Interstate Parkway south to I-95 (NJ Turnpike) south follow signs to exit 16W, the highway splits at that point, but stay on the Turnpike to exit 14. NJ Tpk toll $3.60.

2 - Off of I-87/I-287 exit onto the Garden State Parkway south. Take that to I-78 east to the exit for US1/US9 south (exit 56, or 54, not sure of the number but it's well posted) using the exit for the airport you won't be able to get to the off-site parking you are using. GSP toll $3.00.

My opinion is option two will save time even though it's a bit longer since option one pulls you very close to both the George Washington Bridge and Lincoln Tunnel.

There is a third option with no tolls using I-287 south, but it's longer and has very heavy traffic. Just in case it would be to use I-287 south into NJ to NJ 24 east to I-78 east to the airport but both I-287 and NJ 24 have very bad traffic through Morris County, NJ.

You ARE going to hit traffic no matter which way you go in northern NJ at that time of day. Good luck!

Edited to add: Whatever you do DO NOT use US1/9 through Jersey City! If you do you will probably miss your flight, yes that road is THAT bad.

 

[Chirple]

Just wanted to piggyback on these great directions!

From the Tappan Zee to EWR you have two choices.

1 - Off of I-87/I-287 exit onto the Palisades Interstate Parkway south to I-95 (NJ Turnpike) south follow signs to exit 16W, the highway splits at that point, but stay on the Turnpike to exit 14. NJ Tpk toll $3.60. There are actually 2 splits before EWR. The first split is the Eastern/Western spur split. You can take either one. The Eastern spur (towards Lincoln Tunnel) is just a bit longer, and I think there's a lot of road construction still taking place. The next split is Cars Only vs. Truck/Buses/Cars. The latter is the "outer roadway" on the NJT and is where you will catch exit 14.

2 - Off of I-87/I-287 exit onto the Garden State Parkway south. Take that to I-78 east to the exit for US1/US9 south (exit 56, or 54, not sure of the number but it's well posted) using the exit for the airport you won't be able to get to the off-site parking you are using. GSP toll $3.00.Another option here is to take the GSP south to the exit for Route 80 East (159, I think). Follow 80 East LOCAL to 95 South, and you're back at #1's directions using I-95. The traffic on 80 East is not too bad at that time of day (can't say the same about the westbound side).

 

[lizzygreen]

Thank you!