I just drove from central MA to central Florida (flew back) and then MA to central NC and back, so I can give some real time updates on the I-95 corrider. For the first trip, we left central MA at 3 am on 8/18. We had to leave a car at PVD so I'd have a way home after the return flight, so that added 40 minutes to the trip. We were through NYC (over the GW bridge) by 6:45 am and as it was a Saturday the traffic was light and we didn't get off I-95 and seek alternate routes around NYC. There was roadwork in Newark on I-95 at the X exit (14X maybe??) per 1010 WINS traffic, so we went on I-80 west to the GSP South and picked up I-95/NJTP further downstate again. Traffic was moving good (except people in the left lane driving 50 in a 65 zone and never pulling over - seems to be a NJ License plate holder only issue), so we were over the Delaware River Bridge by 8:45 am. Gas prices are very good in NJ ($2.579 for regular), so we filled up at the last rest stop which held us until NC where the gas was cheap again. Just after the DRB, traffic was slow until the Route 13 exit and the merge with I-95 coming down from Philly. No complete stops, just some 30 mph stretches until the traffic cleared. From here we made good time and stayed on I-95 through the Fort McHenry Tunnel and toll (stay left for the EZPass lane). The EZPass lane slowed, but never stopped. I can't say that for the non-EZPass lanes, they were really slow and stopped dead. We then contined around the beltway with no stops and were over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge by 10:45 am. We picked up the express lane just after the I-395 merge. Local lanes were stop and go, but we had no slowdowns in the express lane until the merge near exit 253 near Quantico. This slowdown was due to an accident at mile marker 246 that had lanes closed. We then took one hour and 50 minutes to crawl six miles until we got past the accident. At this point it was about 1 pm, so we stopped for lunch near Harrisonville where lots of new restaurants were built at the exit along with some big box stores. Once back on the road at 2:30, we made good time down around Richmond taking the I-295 spur. One note here - Virginia state police were heavily enforcing the speed limit on I-295. Near the I-64 exits, they had two different speed traps with one car running radar and six more cars waiting to pull over the unlucky. They repeated this again a few miles further down by the suspension bridge over the James River. From there until Florence, SC where we stopped for the night, traffic was light and enforcement was nil. We made it to Florence by 7 pm. There are lots of motels at the I-20/I-95 interchange in Florence and it's a good place to stop for the night if so inclined. We got back on the road the next morning at 6 am and hit no traffic or road delays and were in Deland, Florida at noon. Add another 45 minutes to Disney from here for reference. The roadwork in Jacksonville is not complete yet at the I-10 intersection, but it was not backed up on a Sunday morning, so we didn't take the I-295 loop to avoid it.
The trip to NC and back happened on 8/23 and 8/24. The route and start time was mostly the same, but NYC traffic was already slow on I-95 through the Bronx per 1010 WINS, so we took the Cross Country parkway to I-87 south and over the GW bridge. There was no roadwork on the NJTP, so we stayed on it the whole length. We were clear of NYC at 5:40 am and out of NJ at 7:25 am. We had XM traffic available for this trip and could listen to Baltimore and Wash. DC traffic to decide whether to stay on I-95. We hit some traffic in Baltimore at WhiteMarsh road down to the I-695 merge. It was slow, but still moved at 20-30 mph and cleared after a few miles. We had no backup at the Fort McHenry tunnel and hit only a little slow traffic at the I-495 merge north of DC. We were over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and into VA by 9:50 am. We had local lanes only until Quantico, but hit no slow zones and were through Richmond staying on I-95 by 11:30 am. We cut off at I-85 to head to the Research Triangle, so that was as far south as we went on I-95, but based on the trip a few days before, I think it would be clear sailing from here down I-95. Coming back home on Friday 8/24, we left Burlington, NC at 1:50 pm and were in Richmond on I-95 at 4:30 pm. We hit two slow spots where I-64 entered from the East and then left for the west, but both were slowdowns, not backups. From here we made it all the way up to the rest area near Lorton before we hit slow traffic. This cleared within a few miles and we didn't hit slow traffic again until about 3 miles before the Woodrow Wilson bridge. Stay to the right here and you move faster as some of the lane drops in construction zones are on the signs only and not on the road lanes. Once we cleared the bridge, the only other slowdown was north of DC where I-95 exits to the right and I-495 continues left. This was a short backup and from here north the only slowups were due to some entrance and exit volume and none caused a full stop. We cleared the Fort McHenry tunnel at 7:40 pm. The only other slowup was at the toll plaza at the MD/DE line. It is poorly signed as to EZPass express lanes and was backed up about a mile. We were through that toll at 8:15 pm and through the Delaware toll 20 minutes later. The NJTP ride was uneventful except for a stop for cheaper gas and we were over the GW Bridge at 10:45 pm and due to light traffic stayed on I-95 up through Rye and into Connecticut. There is a big project on I-95 in CT at exit 33 in Stratford, so I took the rt 25/rt 8 exit north to the Merritt Parkway to avoid the road work and backup.
Tolls on the way down (EZPass is a must have to save backups at the tolls) were NJTP full length - $4.85, Delaware River bridge - $3.00, Delaware DOT - $3.00, Fort McHenry tunnel - $2.00. On the way back, there is no toll for the bridge, but there is an extra toll on the MD/Delaware line (JFK plaza) for $5.00. Total tolls heading south were $12.85 and heading north were $14.85 plus NYC area tolls you only hit heading northbound of $3.00 for the GW bridge off peak plus $1.13 for I-95 in New Rochelle ($1.25 w/o EZPass discount).
Safe travels, I hope this information helps.
