DC Beltway and best time to leave South Jersey

[Scootchu]

We are headed to FW Campground and this question always gnaws at me. When is the best time to leave South Jersey to avoid the traffic debacle called the Beltway? I took a trip down to S Carolina in October and took the Cape May Ferry and wanted to come out below the Beltway, but in fact hit just below it and still ran into horrible traffic in VA. When I was a kid we left at 3-4am from Camden County. I live near Ocean City and could take the Ferry or cross the Delaware via Philadelphia. Was hoping others have experience with their departure time

We will be towing a trailer and that makes me even more convinced we need to avoid that area at rush hour. Hope to reach a campground in SC or GA to stop and sleep. Leaving March 4th and praying for no late snow storms. Was caught in a February blizzard in the 70's with my family in NC and we rolled our car and trailer. We didn't make it to WDW.

 

[easyas123]

Have you considered taking the ferry over and heading south over the Bay Bridge Tunnel and then across to Richmond? Or coming into Delaware over the DE Memorial Bridge and taking Rt. 1 down to Middletown and 301 south over the Bay Bridge (Annapolis) and continuing on down 301 to just north of Richmond and skipping the whole DC & beltway area?

Either of those are alternates to the Beltway. In terms of when to leave to avoid the Beltway traffic? Your guess is as good as mine...make sure you have a EZ Pass to access the center / hi occupancy lanes if they are going your way. We live on Eastern Shore of MD and we've tried just about every time to get around the Beltway. Never had great just-zip-thru luck, although I have heard some folks like to time it for about 7 or 8 PM if it's a weekday. We've started taking 301 South to just above Richmond (actually a few miles north of Kings Dominion) most times we have to drive. In fact, we are driving down on Friday afternoon - leaving around 11 AM or noon.

Have a safe drive no matter which way you go!

 

[rwdavis2]

I would use google maps to estimate the times from where you are to Fredricksburg, VA. That's where the traffic usually lets up. If you never used it maps has a feature to set your time of departure.

Taking 301 can use up a lot of time.

I would hit the DC Beltway no later than around 6:30am or after 9:30-10am. That should avoid the worst of it.

 

[Scootchu]

Yep I Google it and study it and still go back and forth It's about 5 hours to Fredericksburg from me. I was thinking 3am departure, but is that far enough ahead of the wave?

 

[Scootchu]

Have you considered taking the ferry over and heading south over the Bay Bridge Tunnel and then across to Richmond? Or coming into Delaware over the DE Memorial Bridge and taking Rt. 1 down to Middletown and 301 south over the Bay Bridge (Annapolis) and continuing on down 301 to just north of Richmond and skipping the whole DC & beltway area?

Either of those are alternates to the Beltway. In terms of when to leave to avoid the Beltway traffic? Your guess is as good as mine...make sure you have a EZ Pass to access the center / hi occupancy lanes if they are going your way. We live on Eastern Shore of MD and we've tried just about every time to get around the Beltway. Never had great just-zip-thru luck, although I have heard some folks like to time it for about 7 or 8 PM if it's a weekday. We've started taking 301 South to just above Richmond (actually a few miles north of Kings Dominion) most times we have to drive. In fact, we are driving down on Friday afternoon - leaving around 11 AM or noon.

Have a safe drive no matter which way you go!

When my wife and I went to SC in October we took the Bay Bridge and the center lanes were all closed both directions and traffic was horrendous. on the way home we took the tunnel. We did take that way home without the trailer and it was WAY less stressful all the way to Lewes. I think we made it up in 8 hours instead of 10 hours. We are not driving straight through. My wife can't and won't pull the trailer and I can't do 15 hours behind the wheel so we are stopping at the SC/GA border at Lake Jasper.

 

[mikehn]

It seems like there is a bunch of silly road construction on 95 between like Wilmington all the way down to like Aberdeen, havre de grace.

 

[easyas123]

It seems like there is a bunch of silly road construction on 95 between like Wilmington all the way down to like Aberdeen, havre de grace.

Honestly - it's as if there is some sort of invisible barrier up in the area of the Rt.1/Christiana Mall exit. Traffic is always backed up there!

 

[easyas123]

When my wife and I went to SC in October we took the Bay Bridge and the center lanes were all closed both directions and traffic was horrendous. on the way home we took the tunnel. We did take that way home without the trailer and it was WAY less stressful all the way to Lewes. I think we made it up in 8 hours instead of 10 hours. We are not driving straight through. My wife can't and won't pull the trailer and I can't do 15 hours behind the wheel so we are stopping at the SC/GA border at Lake Jasper.

Do you mean the Bay Bridge Tunnel in VA or the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in MD? MD one, only the west-bound span has a center lane although you are right, when that center lane is closed it can be a real fun time. I meant the HOV lanes on 95 below DC, in terms of center lane, depending on the time of day/traffic flow you can use those which can be helpful. If you plan on going around Balt. and then the beltway mind the Hatem Bridge if you are going south during AM rush hour. Either way, you'll have to pick your poison in terms of which bridge/route and time of day. If you can time it so that you at least aren't hitting it at AM rush hour. Good luck!

 

[NotUrsula]

Best way to monitor traffic patterns ahead of time is Waze. Use their Live Map feature to run real-time scenarios on the same days of the week, and show traffic estimates based on normal patterns for time of day. Then when you are actually driving the route, assign one of your passengers to keep an eye on it with the map zoomed out, so that they can see if any parts of the Plan A route ahead of you start filling up with evil little circles, at which time you can decide whether to switch to Plan B.

 

[HeiHei2018]

If you aim to hit Springfield, VA by 7, you will probably be okay. Traffic south of there will mostly be going in the opposite direction at that hour. That will put you in Richmond around 8:30, having missed the worst of rush hour there.

 

[Scootchu]

Do you mean the Bay Bridge Tunnel in VA or the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in MD? MD one, only the west-bound span has a center lane although you are right, when that center lane is closed it can be a real fun time. I meant the HOV lanes on 95 below DC, in terms of center lane, depending on the time of day/traffic flow you can use those which can be helpful. If you plan on going around Balt. and then the beltway mind the Hatem Bridge if you are going south during AM rush hour. Either way, you'll have to pick your poison in terms of which bridge/route and time of day. If you can time it so that you at least aren't hitting it at AM rush hour. Good luck!

I was referring to the center lanes on 95. I'm sorry. They were closed, just closed. I kept saying to my wife, "look at all of that open road!" It sucked!

 

[crzy4dsny]

I would leave central Long Island at 2:00am to clear that area as early as possible. It takes me roughly 2 hours and 40 minutes to reach the southern NJ border. That would usually put me through there just before 6:00. Try to time it so your into VA by 5:00-5:30 the latest and you should have no problems.

 

[DisneyHumbug]

What time does the afternoon DC rush begin? We are leaving PA late morning......

 

[ejgonz2]

We’re planning on leaving South Jersey after Easter dinner (5-6ish). Anyone have thoughts on how bad the 95 traffic will be in DE/MD and the DC area?

Then plan is to make it to NC and then stop for the night. The mrs and I are night owls and the kids will doze off.

 

[amcnj]

I usually tried to leave your general area by 2:30 AM. For reference, I was about an hour and ten minutes from the DE Memorial bridge. DC was about three hours, so I passed that area around 5:30 am, ahead of the rush. I would hit NC around 8 am, SC 11 am and GA say 2 pm. This is with minimal stops and a heavy foot. And you of course are towing a trailer.

If memory serves, the general advice was to avoid DC 6 - 10 am and 3-7 pm. That was from a few years back now, so I don’t know if those timeframes have shifted at all.

Good luck, and I hope you have fair weather and smooth sailing!

 

[kwdw]

What time does the afternoon DC rush begin? We are leaving PA late morning......

In the afternoon, i plan to hitting the topside of the DC beltway before 2/2:30. It’s definitely starts to pick up 3:30-4 pm. Now, try to get a construction report, too. Sometimes lanes close in the middle of the day, which can make it just as bad. If you are coming from west of 81, you could take that south and cut over to 95 later in the trip.

 

[DisneyHumbug]

Thank you !!

 

[jeff_h]

Yep I Google it and study it and still go back and forth It's about 5 hours to Fredericksburg from me. I was thinking 3am departure, but is that far enough ahead of the wave?

If you're traveling on a weekday, the above may be too early as that's when southbound lanes often gets reduced for roadwork (I drive northbound around 4-5am every morning and southbound lanes often have roadwork until about 9am). I would say if you aim to come through about 11am that's your best bet, unless it's a Friday and then there are no really good times.

If you're traveling on a Saturday, you would want to leave that early as Saturday mornings southbound on I-95 anywhere between Springfield and south of Fredericksburg tend to get jammed by 9am or 10am and stay that way for most of the day, it's just a lot of volume from local travelers as well as the throughput from the states to the north.

If you're traveling on a Sunday, all hours are fine because not very many start their road trips on a Sunday as they don't want to lose a day or two as opposed to starting their trips on a Friday or Saturday.

Good luck!