Avoiding DC rush hour

[Rosered]

We are leaving from Bronx, New York on a Friday morning. We were thinking of heading out about 4am but I'm not quite sure at what time that would put us in Washington. What is the best time to leave in order to avoid the DC rush hour? DH is the only driver and he doesn't like to drive too much at night so leaving at night is out of the question. He is willing to drive for a couple of hours in the dark but that's it.

We did drive down last year but it was on a Saturday so there wasn't any traffic and for the life of me I can't recall how long it took us to get to DC.

Any help and any and all tips will be welcomed.

 

[agnes!]

I'm thinking that it will probably take you about 6 hours or so to get from near NYC to the DC area...if you leave around 4am and drive almost straight through, you would be hitting the northern edge of DC sometime between 10 and 11am. Shouldn't be too bad, but I would press on through and get to Richmond before making any long stops...the traffic between DC and Richmond on the weekends(including Friday) can be brutal. (I'm talkin' at-a-standstill *brutal* for miles and miles.)

You might want to do a search on this board for threads with "I-95", "Driving to Florida", etc. in the titles There is a lot of good advice others have about what routes are best(Some say avoid 95 & take 81 instead, others say that 301 will get you around DC, etc...), what times are best, and so on, too much to summarize here.

Good luck! We drove down to WDW once from here near DC - it took us about 14 hours .
agnes!

 

[imlazar]

Depending on when you leave NY and what you hit through NJ, it shouldn't take you more than 5 hours to reach D.C.

You'll want to avoid the DC area between 7-9 AM, and 3-7 PM though, at either of those times you'll hit traffic either heading in or out of the city.

One tip - as you come south, 95 splits into 495 West and 95/495 East. Take the east side - 95/495 (the Maryland/Annapolis side), it's faster. But, listen to the traffic reports - 1500 AM is the local news station with traffic every ten minutes. If anything is going on you'll want to reroute either to the other side, or even though the city itself. Route 1 is a last-ditch alternative if there is nothing else.

 

[PlutoPony]

You'll want to avoid the DC area between 7-9 AM, and 3-7 PM though, at either of those times you'll hit traffic either heading in or out of the city.

Morning rush hour is now more like 5:30-10 a.m. unfortunately (longer if it's bad weather or an accident). Friday afternoon starts getting bad at 2 pm these days.... Would also recommend checking the Virginia DOT website before you got for possible detours due to construction, especially in areas of the Springfield Interchange and Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac.
If you're used to driving in NYC, hopefully DC isn't a whole lot worse . Have a safe trip!

 

[The_Admiral]

Depending on when you leave NY and what you hit through NJ, it shouldn't take you more than 5 hours to reach D.C.

You'll want to avoid the DC area between 7-9 AM, and 3-7 PM though, at either of those times you'll hit traffic either heading in or out of the city.

One tip - as you come south, 95 splits into 495 West and 95/495 East. Take the east side - 95/495 (the Maryland/Annapolis side), it's faster. But, listen to the traffic reports - 1500 AM is the local news station with traffic every ten minutes. If anything is going on you'll want to reroute either to the other side, or even though the city itself. Route 1 is a last-ditch alternative if there is nothing else.

I also would say avoid the area 6-9:30 ish. Fridays are often better than other days in the am but no guarantees. I also agree that you could go either way around the Beltway, the left (east) side is shorter but also involves the Wilson bridge. Unless you know the area dont get off the Beltway.

I would leave at 530 or so. It should take only about 4h if no traffic delays prior to DC. Leaving at 4 will put you here in rush hour.

 

[Rosered]

Thank you for all the info. I will pass it on to DH. He will be the only driver and he only drives when we go on vacation. We don't own a car, will be borrowing one for the trip. Anyway, he's a good driver but not very experienced so he doesn't like to take detours. He prefers the direct route so I guess we'll be leaving a little later to avoid the rush hour at DC or maybe we'll leave on Saturday. Haven't finalized anything yet.

Thanks again.

 

[Selket]

Sometimes on weekend evenings until 10am or so the Wilson Bridge has been closed for construction. I think updates are posted here: http://www.wilsonbridge.com/

I would think you'd miss the worst of the morning rush hour around DC if you left at 4am Friday. I wouldn't stress to much about it - try to avoid the peak times as others suggested. You could always get stuck if there is an accident but that could happen anytime of day.