From the Lehigh Valley, with an RV

[amylevan]

We are making our first trip pulling our fifth wheel trailer in February. We've only made the trip (driving) once before, 10 years ago, and we swore we'd never do it again....

We're coming from just north of Easton, PA, and I originally assumed that the obvious route - down the Northeast Ext to 95 to I-4 was the easiest and best. But we cannot pull the trailer through the tunnels in Baltimore, so....

Choice 1: NE ext, to 95, to 695 around Baltimore, continue down 95.

Choice 2: 78 West to 81/83 south to 15 South to 270 south to 95 south. Mapquest and Google have this suggestion recommended, which has the advantage of missing the tunnels in Baltimore without having to detour, and misses some of DC traffic. But I am not familiar with 15 or 270. Comments?

Choice 3: I have also seen the suggestions on this forum about the 81/77 route. It's interesting that neither google nor mapquest has this as a suggested route, so I'm a little leary. Plus, we will be making this trip in February and I have a feeling this is a more "mountainous" route. Mountains can slow us down while pulling a 5th wheel as it is, add snow, and we would have to crawl...

We plan to do the way down at night (straight thru - leaving 8pm on a Thurs), so traffic on 95 isn't too much of a concern. We have a 2 yr old, and we'd rather make as much of the drive while he's sleeping as possible. But the way back will be split and during the day (weekend though) so traffic will be more of a concern.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

if you were traveling other than winter i would say the 81/77 but winter could make that slow if not worse. do not know how your little one does in stop and go traffic but even at night could be stop and go thru DC. always wake up there and are crying because not ready to wake up. might be better to hit DC just before bedtime and let child fall asleep after travel picks up. i have never had a good trip thru DC when we have gone thru, best trip was around 10 am and yes i have done the late night.

 

[PlutoPony]

If you're driving through the night, you might be just fine staying on 95 and taking 695 in Baltimore. There is a lot of construction on 495 (beltway) on the west side of DC, I would avoid that at all costs - especially driving an RV- and go around on the east side. While 270 is fine, it does dump onto the beltway on the west side and would add some miles on to go all the way around east from there. Other than that 270 down is decent during non rush hour time. Don't have any recent experience on Route 15 from Harrisburg down to Frederick MD/270, I would guess that way is fine unless there's road construction that narrows lanes and makes driving a challenge in a larger vehicle.

IF you find out that 15 down is good, another option is to stay on 15 into Virginia down to I-66, go east 1 exit (a mile or so) to the I-66/Route 29 intersection in Gainesville, and take 29 to Route 17 east to Fredericksburg VA and hit I-95 there.

 

[disneymarie]

We just did Choice 2 in October and recommend it highly. Just check with any new construction. We went through about late afternoon maybe 3PM and did not have any delays even though there was ongoing construction right at Washington area.

Check the 2000 mile thread for gas price updates and routes posted there the last 5 pages.
Have fun!

 

[Skye23]

Living in northern DE and having driven (ok, ridden while being driven) to Florida a bunch of times in my life, and having driven to the Outer Banks a year or so back my advice is to figure out which of the beltways around DC is the furthest away from it, and take that one. Depending on the day of the week you're driving, the time etc - it can take you 2x+ the drive estimate to get around that part. For example, Friday evening in mid-June - 2.5x the drive estimate to get from above DC to Williamsburg, VA.

Unfortunately a lot of the advice you're going to get now may not be useful in February. Because a lot of this depends on what construction projects are started/delayed between now and then, if there's been a recent storm etc.

I would see if I could find a link to a DC Metro area tv station website now and bookmark it for later. Then starting a week before you go you can check on their traffic reports to get updates on construction and weather and make changes to your plan as needed.

 

[amylevan]

Does everyone go around Richmond or just stay on 95 on-through?

 

[amylevan]

Does everyone go around Richmond or just stay on 95 on-through?

 

[Betty Rohrer]

if we get there at rush hour i use the bypass but nonrush hour i go straight thru. not much help i guess but plasy each trip as we get there.