Driving south - which route to take??

[Skjhjb]

I posted a few weeks ago, DH and I are off to Myrtle Beach for a few days to visit his parents who are there for two months. Free vacation - yay!

We are driving down, and there are two routes to take that seem to be about the same time/distance.

One goes the Pittsburg route, and the other goes the Washington route.

Anybody driven either? Which is the better to take?

FIL's gps recalculated just as they were trying to bypass Pittsburg, and they ended up in downtown Pittsburg instead and it took them an hour and a half to get out of there (don't ask, I don't want to know how much he fiddled with the dang gps to screw them up...LOL).

But I'm wondering if the Washington way will be traffic heavy?

We leave around midnight next Friday night, so it will be a Saturday that we drive thru.

Thanks!

 

[OntFamily]

what is your starting point?

 

[Skjhjb]

Ha - sorry I should have said that! We are leaving Fergus, Ontario and will cross at the Fort Erie/Buffalo bridge

 

[migel]

Last July we drove through the Peace Bridge to Kissimmee via the Pittsburg route. I found it a straight forward drive, no major traffic problems, lots of 65 and 70 mph stretches. I use Gps but keep a Google map print out, just in case. A couple of times it came in handy.

 

[bankr63]

I would avoid both. Washington traffic can add 2 hours to the trip if you hit it on the wrong day at the wrong time-of-day.

Follow the Washington route but turn South from I-70 onto I-81 at Hagerstown. From there you have two choices for your cut over to I-95.
1) at Strasburg take I-66 toward Front Royal, then cut over on State Hwy 17 (2 lane highway) to I-95. There can be a bit of congestion along 17, but nothing like DC traffic; or
2) continue on I-81 to Staunton and then cut down on I-64 to Richmond. This is 4 lane interstate the whole way, and nice scenery (you are skirting Shenandoah NP), but a bit longer than route 1.

I-95 is smooth sailing from Richmond all the way to South Carolina.

We have driven both 1 and 2, I would probably do option 2 as the higher interstate speed makes up for the bit of extra distance. Our route to M-B/Hilton Head starts at the top of I-81 from Eastern Ontario, so we know it well enough.

 

[minnie mum]

I agree with bankr. But given the time of year, and current weather conditions, you will want to check the weather forecasts for your planned route. Here is a link to a site which provides weather forecasts along the various interstates. We always check these before leaving home this time of year. http://www.theweathernetwork.com/maps/us-highway-forecast

 

[Skjhjb]

Thanks everybody!! We will probably head the Pittsburgh route, depending on weather. We are leaving around midnight, and the Washington route that would put us in the thick of things around 10am or so.

I will definitely print out the other routes you have given us - hopefully the GPS will help us stray off the Google maps path!

 

[OntFamily]

I've driven the route many times (via Pittsburgh -- same route that Google Maps will give you as the best option). It's an easy drive (take EXTREME care while driving on US-19 in West Virginia -- it's a major speedtrap -- don't go even 1 mph over the limit, or you'll be pulled over and subject to a large fine, payable immediately).

 

[Northernlites]

HAve lots of bills and coins ready for the tolls in Virginia.

 

[bankr63]

What tolls in VA? I don't recall paying anything in VA except for entrance to Shenandoah Park when we did the Skyline Drive.

 

[Northernlites]

West Virigina has many tolls

 

[damo]

Tolls in West Virginia total to $2.40. You will pay $0.40 getting off US 19 at Beckley. You will pay another $2.00 once you get past the I64/I77 fork, at Ghent.

We travel this route many times a year as we have a second home down in the southern US. Let me know if you have any questions.

For the $0.40 toll you will toss your coins into a container...so definitely have the coins ready there. The other toll is payable to a person, so it doesn't really matter if you have exact change for that one.

 

[bankr63]

HAve lots of bills and coins ready for the tolls in Virginia.

Ah, our route goes through VA but only a little tiny piece of WV (with no tolls). Was wondering what tolls you were talking about but WV is very different from VA.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I've driven the route many times (via Pittsburgh -- same route that Google Maps will give you as the best option). It's an easy drive (take EXTREME care while driving on US-19 in West Virginia -- it's a major speedtrap -- don't go even 1 mph over the limit, or you'll be pulled over and subject to a large fine, payable immediately).

This is absolutely true. Speeding tickets on the US-19 are the main source of income to this region. They will actually stop you for doing 1 mile over the limit. Every time we drive through this area we see car after car pulled over. We just set our cruise control to slightly under the limit.

We've driven many, many times to Myrtle via the Pittsburgh route. Did it once through Washington and Pitts is the better route. I would recommend that one of you go to bed around either 8 or 9pm and then sleep until 2am then hit the road. This gives the first driver a good 5-6 hours of sleep. You will still get to MB just after dinner time.

 

[hockeygirl14]

I've done both to Myrtle - prefer going thru pittsburgh but hit almost no traffic going through washington on a saturday (mind you it wasn't a peak traffic time). Like others have said, watch for the speed traps...they are insane!