QEW traffic to Buffalo

[papertraveller]

Any tips on avoiding the construction times and backups on the way to Buffalo? We're heading out in a few weeks for our WDW trip. Drove down this past weekend from the GTA and there were some bad stretches. Anyone have some 'secret' alternate routes?
TIA

 

[Jejual]

If you have to go on the weekend, try and make it to St. Catharines by 10 am. the traffic seems to back up by noon. Friday nights are usually pretty heavy too.

 

[Jejual]

Sorry I forgot to mention but most GPS and mapquest send you over the Queenston-Lewiston bridge. Its almost always faster to go to the peace bridge in fort erie.

 

[minnie56]

The QEW is always crazy busy! Sheer volume of traffic and never ending construction these days...it is awful.

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

Im not sure where you are coming from but we live in Oakville and if were heading to disney we leave 5 am to get through Buffalo before the morning rush and Pittsbourgh just after there morning rush. That also allows you to miss all the construction traffic jams on the qew through Oakville and Burlington. Same with St Catherines. From 7 am ish to 8 pm ish Oakville Burlington stretch is packed both ways. Niagara bound eases up a bit from 10 am to about 2.30 pm Alternate routes if you dont mind paying to miss the construction through Oak Burl take the 407. Not much you can do with St. Catherines without driving through town. Plan your driving times is the best.

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

We went over on Friday July 30th and left our house (Hamilton area) about 4:15pm. We were in Buffalo by 5:35pm. Traffic wasn't a problem at all and the border had maybe 5 minutes wait time.

It got a little slowish right before St. Catherines, but otherwise no problem.

I know there were a couple of accents on Sunday which made it brutal.

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

We went over on Friday July 30th and left our house (Hamilton area) about 4:15pm. We were in Buffalo by 5:35pm. Traffic wasn't a problem at all and the border had maybe 5 minutes wait time.

It got a little slowish right before St. Catherines, but otherwise no problem.

I know there were a couple of accents on Sunday which made it brutal.

That is amazing time.

 

[Alderbrook]

YOu can get off & take the 406 to bypass St. Catharines. We've only got stuck in that mess once & it was 11 am last summer on a Saturday.

 

[papertraveller]

Thanks everyone. We will be leaving the west end of GTA at around 8:30 on a Friday night, driving only as far as Buffalo. Our flight is early the next morning.

DH is talking about taking the 403 to 407 and connecting to the QEW just east of Hamilton. Didn't even know about the 406 - what's the best way to connect back to the QEW? Is that road an expressway also?

(We drove down last Wednesday leaving town at around 3:45, ended up in the middle of a horrible rain storm. Total journey took almost three hours, and the border was clear sailing!)

 

[mithuri]

Hi;

On Sun Aug 01st (past long weekend), we left from Don Valley Pkwy/Eglinton Ave around 08:30 AM, took a 20 min break in-between at Tim Horton's and made it to Peace Bridge around 10:30 AM - The border wait was between 5-10 mins.

There were some stretches of slower traffic, but it wasn't too bad.

HTH

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

Thanks everyone. We will be leaving the west end of GTA at around 8:30 on a Friday night, driving only as far as Buffalo. Our flight is early the next morning.

DH is talking about taking the 403 to 407 and connecting to the QEW just east of Hamilton. Didn't even know about the 406 - what's the best way to connect back to the QEW? Is that road an expressway also?

(We drove down last Wednesday leaving town at around 3:45, ended up in the middle of a horrible rain storm. Total journey took almost three hours, and the border was clear sailing!)

If you looking to go at 830 at night just take the qew. If its a long weekend your in a mess anyway you go. If its a normal weekend you will drive right through.

 

[Zip-a-dee-dude-da]

Give yourself plenty of time...The boarder crossings have been strange this summer and depending on when you get to the bridge you can get stuck behingd 2 cars and stuill wait 40 minutes...the border patrol seems to take thier time when it is less busy...also NEVER TAKE THE QUEENSTON LEWISTON BRIDGE...it gets strangled with truck traffic.....Take the Peace bridge in fort erie....If your leaving on an A.M. flight from Buffalo i would just drive to Buffalo the night before and get a room at the hotels across from the airport..the room will be less than 100.00 dollars and they will let you leave your car there while you travel..just take their shuttle to the Airport..saving the long term parking fee that would be more than the price of the room if you stay at wdw for over a week.......

 

[minnie56]

Totally agree. I go across about 2x a month and this summer it has been very unpredictable. We went over last week around 1:00 p.m and the traffic was horrible and we still had a 25 min wait at Customs/Imm though there weren't many cars at all... Nexus also had a wait...so go figure.

 

[CJK]

Does anyone take the Rainbow bridge? We usually avoid the Queenston bridge by taking the Rainbow bridge. People on this thread have mentioned the Peace bridge as the best alternative. Is the Rainbow bridge not a good alternative anymore?

 

[perfectparanoia]

Does anyone take the Rainbow bridge? We usually avoid the Queenston bridge by taking the Rainbow bridge. People on this thread have mentioned the Peace bridge as the best alternative. Is the Rainbow bridge not a good alternative anymore?

Peace Bridge line is always shorter. If you see that Queenston-Lewiston is an hour, Rainbow will typically be 30 minutes. Whilst the Peace Bridge is labeled as 10 (but usually takes 5).

Peace Bridge all the way!

 

[CanadianPaco]

Hi;

On Sun Aug 01st (past long weekend), we left from Don Valley Pkwy/Eglinton Ave around 08:30 AM, took a 20 min break in-between at Tim Horton's and made it to Peace Bridge around 10:30 AM - The border wait was between 5-10 mins.

There were some stretches of slower traffic, but it wasn't too bad.

HTH

We're crossing on a Sunday morning in a few weeks! This is good news! Thanks!!!

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

We're crossing on a Sunday morning in a few weeks! This is good news! Thanks!!!

If you leave real early and driving all the way you can enjoy the view driving through the mountains.

 

[Alderbrook]

Just drove thru St. Catharines 2x today, this morning at 9 am barely any traffic & no delay & drove home again this afternoon at 2:30 & no delay, drove right thru.

 

[NancyK]

Here's a link to the border wait times. They update it hourly.

http://apps.cbp.gov/bwt/index.asp

You'll notice that, of the three bridges, the Rainbow Bridge has the most lanes. That being said, we usually take the Peace Bridge because it is very straightforward to get to.