QEW Niagara Bound Thru St. Catharines

[Alderbrook]

We drove down to St. Catharines at 11:00 am yesterday to play golf & the traffic from Beamsville to the Skyway was BRUTAL because of construction. I drove down a month ago around 10 am & had no problems & 2 months ago at 9:30 am without any problems. All on a Sat.

We are leaving Sept 26 out of BUF & am wondering what the traffic is like thru there around 9 am usually on a Sat? I've driven that way a million times & the construction has been going on for years & never had a problem.

I know the traffic has been brutal but I thought it was just during the week.

We're giving ourselves an extra hour travelling time to get to the airport. Is this enough?

 

[kelsco99]

Not sure what you mean by brutal but whenever we travel to Buffalo, there is ALWAYS construction and ALWAYs some stop and go traffic but it is usually manageable. The last time we did this was near the end of July to go to Great Wolf Lodge.

If traffic is perfect and there is no wait at the border, I can get to the Buffalo airport from where I live in about 3hrs 10 minutes. I usually give myself and extra hour or so just in case and have always made it in lots of time.

We leave on Saturday. We have a 1:50pm flight and I am planning on leaving at 7:30amish with a quick breakfast stop. I hope that's enough time.

 

[NancyK]

The construction traffic in St. Catharines seems to be worse these days as they tear down and rebuild bridges etc. Hard to predict what any given day will bring you. I always like being at the airport really early. Of course there's a Cracker Barrel a few miles away from the airport so you could always go there for breakfast if you happen to luck out and get across the border with no delays.

 

[Alderbrook]

We drove down to St. Catharines at 11:00 am yesterday to play golf & the traffic from Beamsville to the Skyway was BRUTAL because of construction. I drove down a month ago around 10 am & had no problems & 2 months ago at 9:30 am without any problems. All on a Sat.

We are leaving Sept 26 out of BUF & am wondering what the traffic is like thru there around 9 am usually on a Sat? I've driven that way a million times & the construction has been going on for years & never had a problem.

I know the traffic has been brutal but I thought it was just during the week.

We're giving ourselves an extra hour travelling time to get to the airport. Is this enough?

Not sure what you mean by brutal but whenever we travel to Buffalo, there is ALWAYS construction and ALWAYs some stop and go traffic but it is usually manageable. The last time we did this was near the end of July to go to Great Wolf Lodge.

If traffic is perfect and there is no wait at the border, I can get to the Buffalo airport from where I live in about 3hrs 10 minutes. I usually give myself and extra hour or so just in case and have always made it in lots of time.

We leave on Saturday. We have a 1:50pm flight and I am planning on leaving at 7:30amish with a quick breakfast stop. I hope that's enough time.

This was not manageable. It was pretty much stop from Beamsville on. A trip that takes us 45 mins took almost 1.5 hours. We left at 11, should have been there about 11:45, but didn't get there until 12:30. Our tee time was 12:45 & we were hoping to do lunch before but that didn't happen. We had to grab a burger & go.

Our flight is 1:05 & we were planning on leaving at 8 am. Should take us not quite 2 hrs to get to the border from where we are. That's giving us an extra hour for the border just in case. Now though we'll be taking into account St. Catharines.

 

[bgula]

There are several alternate routes you could take to avoid St. Catharines altogether and they won't add much time to your trip. PM me if you want some alternatives.

 

[Jejual]

For the time that you are leaving there should not be a problem. It usually gets busy on the QEW on SAturdays between 11 am and 5 going towards Niagara Falls. It is usually really slow going toward Hamilton from about 5 pm to 11pm. I think this is due to tourist visiting N.F. for the day on the weekends because its exactly the same on Sundays too. I will be so happy when this widening is finally done. Have a good trip and I might see you done there. I leave the same day.

 

[Alderbrook]

I know all the other routes, just this one's the fastest for us. We're just south of Hamilton so I can always take Hwy 20 down or actually take #3 all the way to Ft Erie. We took #3 before & it took us forever because of all the slow drivers on the back roads.

 

[disneydreamgirl]

If you sense it is backing up after Beamsville, you can take an alternate route by veering to the right for the 406 exit and then taking Hwy 58 through Thorold which will eventually turn into Thorold Stone Road after you have driven through the Thorold Tunnel. Thorold Stone Road will reconnect you with the QEW in the middle of Niagara Falls where you can carry on like normal to Fort Erie.

 

[Alderbrook]

Perfect, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks

 

[MikeJ]

Our son is entering his third year at Brock and living in a house in Thorold this year. We've made the London-St. Catharines drives a number of times over the summer. We always get off at the 406 and only once have we been caught in construction traffic. I agree with disneydreamgirl - if you find it's getting heavy at Beamsville get off at the 406 and take 58 back out to the QEW at Niagara. It's a little slower than the QEW (if there's no traffic) but will save a ton of time if things are slow.


- Mike

 

[alohamom]

It depends on the traffic volume and how the lanes have been configured as well. we went last Saturday (22nd) and hit bad traffic. We actually had to head that way again this Saturday and flew through St.C without stopping or even having to brake! I comment on this to my DH and he too was surprised, it is not too often that happens in St.C area! I think I may mapquest and print the OP route through the Thorold tunnel then keep it in the car for those times that we hit wicked congestion.

 

[CJK]

Wow, great info on this thread. Thanks everyone. We'll be making the trek to Buffalo on a Friday night in September (around 7pm). Should we expect crazy delays???? I'm going to write down the alternative route info on this thread just in case.

 

[great white north]

CJK, Friday night may be a little slow, but I wouldn't get off the highway unless it slows down before 7th street. This is just before the 406 exit which is the start of the consruction through St Catharines. The only time it gets busy to Buff. is as stated above is 11:00am until 3:00pm on Sat.. and Sunday. because of Toronto day visits into the falls. You time date is outside of the tourist season but if weather is nice it could get busy. Any other time will be good unless there is an accident. If it is slow, get off and take the north service rd to 7th. street, south to middle rd, east to 406 south entrance then south to HWY 58 turns into Thorold Stone rd and back onto the QEW/Buff.

 

[Alderbrook]

That's what we're going to do. If the traffic is terrible from Beamsville, we're going to get off at the 406. I know my way around down there pretty good as I used to be a delivery driver, but we're going to take our GPS & use that to get back on the QEW. I love it when it when it gets mad at me & yells "recalculating"

 

[CJK]

CJK, Friday night may be a little slow, but I wouldn't get off the highway unless it slows down before 7th street. This is just before the 406 exit which is the start of the consruction through St Catharines. The only time it gets busy to Buff. is as stated above is 11:00am until 3:00pm on Sat.. and Sunday. because of Toronto day visits into the falls. You time date is outside of the tourist season but if weather is nice it could get busy. Any other time will be good unless there is an accident. If it is slow, get off and take the north service rd to 7th. street, south to middle rd, east to 406 south entrance then south to HWY 58 turns into Thorold Stone rd and back onto the QEW/Buff.

Thanks for the GREAT info. I feel so much more prepared now.