Philadelphia to Orlando (gettning thru DC)

[gelpac]

Hello all...just trying to figure out the best way to go thru and around the DC beltway. Is 95s to 495 to 295s the best way? I should be arriving in the beltway area around 10:30pm on a Friday in may (not memorial day weekend)

thanks in advance...

 

[winthropf]

What time of day and what day of the week? These really make a difference.

 

[Viking Princess]

That sounds fine. Just be aware that you are going to hit some traffic. Even at three am there are no clear highways. It won't be bumper to bumper though or all that heavy.

Keep an eye on the speed limit signs. They change within five mph of each other, but the speed camera are merciless.

 

[LBIJim]

10:30pm shouldn't be too bad, but there will still be a good amount of traffic. It's never light on the beltway.

If you don't feel like dealing with the beltway around DC, an alternate route is to take 301 south thru Delaware and Maryland, cross the Bay Bridge, and join 95 south a little north of Richmond, VA.

Jim

 

[stitchlovestink]

Hello all...just trying to figure out the best way to go thru and around the DC beltway. Is 95s to 495 to 295s the best way? I should be arriving in the beltway area around 10:30pm on a Friday in may (not memorial day weekend)

thanks in advance...

Personally, I would stay on 95. We have had better luck on 95. It seems like we hit worse traffic on 295 than on 95. Last time in January (Friday Jan 11, 2013) we sailed right thru DC on 95 and didn't hit any traffic until we were about an hour past DC in VA. Go figure! But I think that was from an accident. But it seems like every time we are on 295, we sit in bumper to bumper traffic for anywhere from an hour to two hours...

10:30pm shouldn't be too bad, but there will still be a good amount of traffic. It's never light on the beltway.

If you don't feel like dealing with the beltway around DC, an alternate route is to take 301 south thru Delaware and Maryland, cross the Bay Bridge, and join 95 south a little north of Richmond, VA.

Jim

If it were me, I would NOT do this! There are too many beach events in OCMD in May which can make traffic around that way already heavy on a friday evening. and If something happens on the bridge, you are screwed! And IMO, I would much rather travel 95 than 301. On 301 you will have some traffic lights (not tons, but you will have some...versus none on 95) and the speed limits are not as high/fast on 301 as it is on 95. I think 95 is a better choice, but to each his/her own. Just wanted you to be aware though that you aren't comparing apples to apples. and like I said, *IF* there's a problem at the bridge, you're screwed... It's a LONG way around....

 

[rwdavis2]

The routes you picked will be the fastest. Just beware of the speed limits on 295. They have speed cameras and about half way through DC on 295 the speed drops to, I think,

 

[HoosierDisneyDad]

What I would do is listen to the traffic reports on WTOP (103.5) when you're getting close to the Beltway. Then you can choose between taking 295 or 495 based on whether one of them has an accident or late night construction.

 

[kgsmith]

I'd avoid 295. It doesn't matter what day of the week or time of day (or night), there is always traffic. I drive over 295 every day and see nothing but brake lights on the southbound side!

 

[rwdavis2]

What I would do is listen to the traffic reports on WTOP (103.5) when you're getting close to the Beltway. Then you can choose between taking 295 or 495 based on whether one of them has an accident or late night construction.

 

[Cmbar]

It is always a choice whether to go around 495 or go straight through 295. At 10:30pm you probably are in good shape any choice you make but we use this site when we are traveling down. When we were coming back from Orlando and got close to DC and had to decide we pulled up this site (using a smartphone) and could see that 495 on the West side was solid red. (we live Northwest of the City so we wanted to be on the west side to get to 270). Turns out they were working on something and had a detour on that night we were traveling so much of the West side of the beltway was red. Luckily the site is up to date to the moment and we quickly adjusted and went a different way. I absolutely love this site. It helped us with Richmond as well as you can go around the east or go straight through and again they were working on a bridge on the straight through so we went around. It hits the main cities. We find DC, Richmond and Jacksonville are the ones we need to see the most when traveling down.

http://www.i95highway.com/

Check it out and put it on your smartphone.

 

[vicki_c]

Cmbar - thanks for that link. I live here and didn't even have that bookmarked. But I will now!