CT to Lorton, VA

[Shannon G]

Question for those familiar with NY and DC traffic. DD is going to be doing the Disney College Program in the spring, and wants to bring her car. I'd rather not spend two days driving from CT, so we are looking at driving from CT to Lorton, VA, and then taking the autotrain the rest of the way. We are going to spend some time together at WDW before her DCP arrival date, and then I will fly home. Her arrival date for the DCP is 1/24, so I am looking at taking the autotrain on either Sunday, 1/16 or Monday 1/17 (MLK Day). My initial thought is that we'll hit less traffic driving CT to VA on a Sunday, but then thought that perhaps Monday traffic will be light as well, given the holiday. Any thoughts? I believe we'd need to be at the train station to check in by 2 or 2:30, and are coming from eastern central CT (about 25 minutes east of Hartford).

 

[lynnzrae]

I live in Lorton, VA. Honestly light traffic on 95 is hard to come by. I would say either day the earlier you are on 95 in this area the better. Starting late morning things get heavy but all of this is a crap shoot anyway.

 

[Pinnochio]

Definitely Sunday would be the day to go....even with the holiday....

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

As someone who visits Williamsburg often, you are going to hit traffic. No matter which way you slice it. Make sure all gps apps are up to date. Sometimes when they aren’t up to date they will take you into DC. Delaware bridge is a toll nightmare but also a great place to get gas. Also NJ has been redoing a ton of their rest stops and they are really nice now.

 

[Shannon G]

I live in Lorton, VA. Honestly light traffic on 95 is hard to come by. I would say either day the earlier you are on 95 in this area the better. Starting late morning things get heavy but all of this is a crap shoot anyway.

According to a quick google maps search, it looks like about a 7.5 hours drive to Lorton for us, barring any significant delays. My thought is to leave here around 3:30 am - 4 am, which would give us a couple of hours of cushion - if it really takes 7.5 hours we'd be there around 11 - 11:30 am, but I'd rather be early and have to kill time at the station than to risk running late and missing our train. We have to plan around not only DC traffic, but NYC as well. Hopefully leaving at 4 am will let us get through NYC without significant delays.

 

[AZGurl]

I also live in Lorton. It’s very hard to predict the 95 traffic any day of the week. I would at least consider driving down the day before and overnighting in the Lorton/Springfield/Alexandria area. The auto train starts lining up pretty early most days. Your plan to leave early could work as well but sometimes traffic gets worse on the holiday weekends.

 

[Shannon G]

I also live in Lorton. It’s very hard to predict the 95 traffic any day of the week. I would at least consider driving down the day before and overnighting in the Lorton/Springfield/Alexandria area. The auto train starts lining up pretty early most days. Your plan to leave early could work as well but sometimes traffic gets worse on the holiday weekends.

thanks for the input. Driving down the day before would defeat part of the purpose of taking the train, which is to shorten the trip down a bit. If we’re going to take 2 full days to travel and stay overnight in between, it seems we might as well drive the whole way instead of just to Lorton.

 

[herdtoDisney]

OP, I have driven to Lorton from around your location, and actually will be taking the Autotrain next week to visit CT (so excited, was planned for 2020 but...) and have done the trip before.

In my experience, and my plan for this trip-is to leave central CT at 4 am. Between Sunday and a holiday Monday, I'd take the cheaper train (if it was not a holiday I'd defenitely take Sunday). I also plan to get there around 11. There are places to eat (a McD's and I heard a Glory Days grill now too) close by, and one time I even found a nice park right on the water just a few miles away. You can check in at the Autotrain starting at 11 am and go out with your car, as long as you return in time for loading.

I'd much rather get there earlier and leave plenty of time in case of some crazy delay. I know someone who got delayed at the GW bridge for 3 hours and made the train loading by 5 minutes!

 

[Shannon G]

Thanks - this is helpful. My thought is to leave between 3 am - 4 am - like you said, I'd rather be early than miss the train!

I'm leaning toward take I84/I684/Tappan Zee Bridge/Garden State Parkway to I95, in order to avoid NYC. Also, it looks like I could avoid I95 through Baltimore by taking 301 down the DelMarVa, and then cutting back in on 50 to 495 at DC - does anyone have any insight on whether that may actually be a good idea?

Actually, on second thought, I'm not sure I could handle driving over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Guess I'll stick with 95 through Baltimore.

 

[staceychev]

According to a quick google maps search, it looks like about a 7.5 hours drive to Lorton for us, barring any significant delays. My thought is to leave here around 3:30 am - 4 am, which would give us a couple of hours of cushion - if it really takes 7.5 hours we'd be there around 11 - 11:30 am, but I'd rather be early and have to kill time at the station than to risk running late and missing our train. We have to plan around not only DC traffic, but NYC as well. Hopefully leaving at 4 am will let us get through NYC without significant delays.

Be careful with Google Maps. I use it all the time for local trips - less than two hours in the NYC/Philly/DC corridor - and it seems accurate for that. But, the one time that we drove to Naples, FL, it told us 18 hours and it was actually 24! I'm not sure if it's the location (northeast vs entire east coast) or if it's that it gets less accurate for longer trips. But definitely be aware!

Actually, on second thought, I'm not sure I could handle driving over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Guess I'll stick with 95 through Baltimore.

I drove the Chesapeake Bay Bridge this summer for the first time, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected!

 

[Old Man Goofy Runner]

I drive down from just north of Philly to Lorton every year to take my Dad's car down on the auto-train for the winter. You should be fine with your original plan, I always target getting there just before lunch and grab lunch at the shopping center across the street (only once in the past 10 years was I so delayed I didn't have time to eat lunch before checking in). I wouldn't stress about alternate routes on a Sunday but keep Waze or Google Maps up and running the entire drive, they will alert you to traffic problems and auto-reroute you if necessary.

 

[Shannon G]

I drive down from just north of Philly to Lorton every year to take my Dad's car down on the auto-train for the winter. You should be fine with your original plan, I always target getting there just before lunch and grab lunch at the shopping center across the street (only once in the past 10 years was I so delayed I didn't have time to eat lunch before checking in). I wouldn't stress about alternate routes on a Sunday but keep Waze or Google Maps up and running the entire drive, they will alert you to traffic problems and auto-reroute you if necessary.

Thanks! Is the shopping center an easy walk, so we can check in and then go get lunch while we wait?

 

[Old Man Goofy Runner]

It's only about a 10-15 minute walk, although you do have to cross a fairly busy street to get there. I usually get lunch before checking in, since you have until mid-afternoon to check in and it doesn't matter when you check your car in (cars come off in a totally random order unless you pay to be off early).

 

[herdtoDisney]

If you get there early, you can go into the parking lot and follow the 'visitor parking' sign. Park and walk inside and check in. Then you can use your car until it's time to load-when you come back (before whatever time they tell you) then you go through the vehicle check in lane.

 

[Lewisc]

Be careful with Google Maps. I use it all the time for local trips - less than two hours in the NYC/Philly/DC corridor - and it seems accurate for that. But, the one time that we drove to Naples, FL, it told us 18 hours and it was actually 24! I'm not sure if it's the location (northeast vs entire east coast) or if it's that it gets less accurate for longer trips. But definitely

JMO Navigation programs ignore or underestimate stops for fuel and food. Traffic and construction can change. I don't know know if all navigation looks at traffic for.your entire route or just a segment. Some people might not even be using a traffic feature