I just made the drive a couple days ago from Central NJ. 295 ij NJ was in good shape, but after I crossed the Deleware Memorial Bridge traffic just stopped. There was an accident or something being cleared about four miles down 95. I took the Harbor Tunnel in Baltimore, no traffic at all--this would have been about 4:00pm Sunday. 295 (The BWE) was congested but moving.
Traffic was backed up about three miles on 495 before the drawbridge in DC, it was due to a disabled vehicle partially in the travel lane. Very congested through Springfield, and all the way past Potomic Mills almost to Fredericksburg. Then there was another wreck on 95 around Fredericksburg. At that point I gave up and spent the night in the new Hampton about 15 miles north of Emporia--can't recall the exit, but it's the one with the new travel center with Starbucks and Krispie Kreme. The Hampton is VERY nice, brand new, and only $70/night with a
AAA rate.
Monday morning I started to drive again at 7:00am. It was clear sailing, there was a bit of a slowdown three times in NC/SC/GA with construction, but just a slowdown, probably lost ten minutes total between the three construction areas.
I got to J'Ville about 3:15 and there's a LOT of construction and it was VERY VERY congensted. Nerve-wracking! Take the by-pass, you'll thank me--I wish I had.
Traffic flowed well between J'Ville and Daytona. I ran into rush hour traffic in Orlando, which was fine headed southbound on I-4, but got heavy as I got on the East-West to head to Clermont, and then eased a bit once I got on the turnpike.
My total drive time was about 19 hours. I made the drive by myself, no other driver. Because we had the animals in the car, my son and I had to alternate at bathroom breaks so I could leave the car running with the a/c on, so that added fifteen minutes or so to our trip. I stopped in SC and took a 20 minute nap around noon, I was feeling fatigued, and my rule of thumb is that 20 minutes will buy me 4-6 hours of alert drive time. I didn't feel the need to stop again when I got to FL, although if I had been getting drowsey I would have.
Hope this helps!
Anne