Leaving from Indiana in 17 days :)

[Stephaniesue]

We will be leaving for our first trip in 17 days. We live just southeast of Indianapolis. Does anyone know of any major closures along the way or a better route?

We are using google maps- it's the same our GPS uses. I'll also be bringing a road Atlas, cause I worry.

We will making a pit stop for the first trael night in Chattanooga, TN. We have split our driving into 2 days to make it easier on us. But we are hoping to power through on the way home and do it in one day.

 

[Dis_Dreamin]

Enjoy your drive down. We liked stopping on our trip down, but we made it a bit further to Byron, GA. At any rate, you could always look up your route on each state's DOT websites to find construction zones.

Kentucky:
http://511.ky.gov/kyhb/main.jsf

Tennesee:
http://ww2.tdot.state.tn.us/tsw/smartmap.htm

Georgia:
http://www.511ga.org/realtimetraffic.html

Florida:
http://www.fl511.com/

 

[Stephaniesue]

Thanks so much! You are awesome, I really appreciate this!

 

[grimley1968]

My suggestion usually gets shot down, but I would suggest for the Kentucky portion of your drive to get on I-75 as early as possible. I-75 has much more 3-lane than I-65. From Indy to Cincy, you could take I-74. I have no idea how good a road I-74 is, but I-75 is pretty nice from Cincy down to at least Knoxville. Cincy is very quick and easy to get out of. Knoxville finally has wrapped up some obnoxious road work they were doing for years on I-75. It's much better than it used to be. Do NOT take I-285 around Atlanta. Just stay on I-75. Also try to time your Atlanta arrival so as not to coincide with rush hour. DO take the little bypass around Macon. That does save some time.

I agree with the previous poster: Chattanooga isn't really very far. Atlanta's only about 2.5 hours further down.

I don't know of any closures in Kentucky, except that in extreme southern Kentucky they are trying to widen to 3 lanes, and they may shut it down to 1 lane in each direction. Fortunately it's a very rural area, so backups aren't that bad there.

Again, if you're going to switch over from I-65 to I-75, I'd do it as far north in your trip as possible. The two roads spread out the further south you go. I-74 in Indiana at least has you travelling on a SE trajectory if not on I-75, and it's a shorter connector than anything in Kentucky or farther south.

I like those 511 sites in general, though Kentucky's just isn't as good or up to date as the others.

 

[Stephaniesue]

Grimley- thanks so much for the detailed input .

Here's a little more detail into my schedule. We plan to depart Indiana around 6:30 pm on friday 9-9. This way the kids sleep through a portion of the drive. We hope to hit the Chattanooga area around 2 to 2:30 Saturday morning. We will sleep a little and head down to Clermont, probably around 10 or so. If we do hit Atlanta around rush hour we plan to stop and let the kids play somewhere and eat.

This is our first trip, I am open to suggestions as far as the drive. How does this plan sound? I will do a little more messing with the maps to see what highway and all that- I have been checking on hotels to stop at in Kentucky/Georgia.

 

[kydisneyfans]

I completely agree with the other KY poster that says to get to I75 ASAP instead of I65. I have taken 65 to Nashville 4 times this summer and 2 of the 4 times have seen almost 30 mile backups south of Louisville due to construction.

74 is an easy drive and not travelled heavily, take 275 SW of Cincy, hit I75 at Florence, set the cruise at 70 (or so). You will have a straight shot to Knoxville, with absolutely no construction now.

There is a spot on 75 south of Knoxville where it drops to 1 lane, it was backed up 2 weeks ago. Find your way to US 11 if you see the backup. It only added about 15 minutes to the drive.

For hotels, I'm not sure where in KY you are looking. I work for a very, very large national paper that delivers papers to most hotels along I75 in the southern 2/3 of KY, so I can tell you pretty much all of them.

For planning from TN to OH, you will find decent hotels at exit 11, 25, 29, 38, 41, 77, 76, 87, 108, 110, 115 and 126. There are other hotels at 59, 62, 90, 104, 113, and 129 that are lower budget or homeowned.

 

[kydisneyfans]

I also agree with the other KY poster that nobody agrees with that you should stay on I75 through Atlanta and take the 475 bypass around Macon.

There would not be a notable rush hour in Atlanta on a Saturday, maybe just a tap of the brakes.

 

[Dis_Dreamin]

Grimley- thanks so much for the detailed input .

Here's a little more detail into my schedule. We plan to depart Indiana around 6:30 pm on friday 9-9. This way the kids sleep through a portion of the drive. We hope to hit the Chattanooga area around 2 to 2:30 Saturday morning. We will sleep a little and head down to Clermont, probably around 10 or so. If we do hit Atlanta around rush hour we plan to stop and let the kids play somewhere and eat.

This is our first trip, I am open to suggestions as far as the drive. How does this plan sound? I will do a little more messing with the maps to see what highway and all that- I have been checking on hotels to stop at in Kentucky/Georgia.

We did the stop just south of Macon in a little town called Byron Georgia. It's about a 11 hour drive from Clermont Indiana via I-74 (according to Google Maps). Tack on some extra time for a couple gas stops and the ubiquitous potty breaks and you could be looking at about a 12 hour drive overnight. You might check out the Comfort Suites in Byron on Dunbar Road. Very nice accommodations and when we stopped it was about 100 a night for the room. Excellent breakfast, clean rooms, great staff. The next day drive was easy. We were at the resort by lunch.

Comfort Suites Byron Georgia

You might also check out AAA's website for the trip tiks. They should have up to date construction and speed enforcement zones shown on their maps too.

You can build your own without being a member and even print it out on your own paper. At least you could last October when we did a trip down to Gatlinburg.

 

[grimley1968]

There is a spot on 75 south of Knoxville where it drops to 1 lane, it was backed up 2 weeks ago. Find your way to US 11 if you see the backup. It only added about 15 minutes to the drive.

Grrr. I don't know what it is about Knoxville, but they just can't seem to get their road work done and left alone for any period of time. This is bad news to me. It was finally all nice and clear last October, and now they start more work there. Well, I'm glad to hear it wasn't a complete parking lot, and thanks for the notice about this. Seriously, other places always get their road work done in a more timely way, even within the state of Tennessee.

To the OP, I really think if you leave central IN by 6:30 PM, you'll be well south of Chattanooga by 2:00 AM, if you're able to keep decent speed and the stops to a minimum. Even Google Maps (which assumes driving the speed limit or less), shows under 7 hours between Indy and Chattanooga. But if you'd like to have a relaxing drive where you make a couple of stops for fun, Chattanooga might be a good bet to stop for the night. If you're willing to push it more, Marietta, GA has plenty of places to stay, and it's a little further down, but before Atlanta. Whatever you do, don't try to book a room while on the road. Have it booked well in advance, and you probably want to call the hotel and remind them you'll be checking in very late or after midnight. For example, I leave from southern Kentucky after school on Friday, and we already have a hotel booked in Valdosta, GA at Exit 18. Unless we hit a road disaster, we'll roll in to the hotel at about 11:45 that night. Then it's a 3.5 hour drive from there to WDW on Saturday AM.

Since you're going through Atlanta on a Saturday, rush hour shouldn't be a concern. Again, just stay on I-75. It's kind of fun to drive through there, I find, and see the skyline, Turner Field, etc. I drive around the speed limit through there, and am usually being passed by much faster drivers.

Kentucky is about 180 miles from Florence (where you'd get on I-75) to the Tennessee border, and Tennessee is about 166 miles (travelling on I-75) from north to south, if that helps with your timing of things. You'll spend as much or more time in the state of Georgia alone as you do in both Kentucky and Tennessee.