Summer Saturday - can I get through VA if I hit DC at 9 AM??

[sharadoc]

Hi All,

So, we're waffling again about our June drive. We're thinking if we leave at 6am and hit DC by 9 on 95 then we should be ahead of the Virginia traffic. That should get us to Richmond by 11.

For those of you who know summers on 95 South in Virginia, will this work? We are SO comfortable with 95, that the thought of doing 81-75-26 is a little daunting for us, especially after hearing about all the trucks on 81 and the hills. Even if we get stuck in traffic for an hour, we'll equal driving the 81 way and still be on familiar territory.

Conversely, when is traffic bad on Sundays going north? Will we be okay hitting DC at 1pm?

I know I'm sounding like a whine-y baby, but we want to do what we're fully comfortable with so I needed to ask. Thanks for understanding.

 

[sharadoc]

Bumping to keep this on the front page.

Anyone please???

 

[GranddadTom]

I don't think it's possible to "get ahead" of the traffic on Rt 95 in Northern Virginia on Saturday mornings in the summer. The road is clogged with beach traffic to the Outer Banks all morning. 9:00 am probably puts you in the thick of things. Can you leave at 3:00 am? But, having said that, you should have no problems if you are prepared to handle it mentally. Plan on the trip to Richmond taking an extra hour (or more) because that's what it'll be. After Richmond things will speed up.

On the return trip, Sunday at 1:00pm coming north shouldn't be to bad. It'll get worst as it gets later.

 

[uva185]

Hi All,

So, we're waffling again about our June drive. We're thinking if we leave at 6am and hit DC by 9 on 95 then we should be ahead of the Virginia traffic. That should get us to Richmond by 11.

You're kidding right?? I-95 South of DC is a disaster on Saturdays during the summer. Actually its pretty much a disaster every day of the week. If you get through DC by 6am you should be fine. If you hit DC at 9am you'll hit traffic.

 

[Missytara]

I live in DE and many people who live in DC and MD own places at our beaches.

If they go for the week, they usually leave on Saturday mornings to get to their places.

If they go for the weekend, they leave Thursday or Friday, depending if people flex with their jobs and return to DC on Sunday.

Another way to avoid that area - and I know you said you would rather do something you are move comfortable with - is go through DE/MD and pick up the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Although some people do use this to get to the Outer Banks as well, it may not be as many.

If you are set on going on Saturday and coming back on Sunday, you are going to need to be prepared for sitting in miles and miles of traffic or leaving super early and getting around DC before the morning travel starts off to the shores.

 

[3darlings]

Another way to avoid that area - and I know you said you would rather do something you are move comfortable with - is go through DE/MD and pick up the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Although some people do use this to get to the Outer Banks as well, it may not be as many.


I wouldn't recommend this route on a Saturday morning. The traffic to the DE/MD beaches is equally as bad on a Saturday morning. I would think the only way around the beach traffic on any of the routes is to leave very very early Saturday morning, go late Saturday afternoon, or leave late Friday night.

 

[PlutoPony]

Another way to avoid that area - and I know you said you would rather do something you are move comfortable with - is go through DE/MD and pick up the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Although some people do use this to get to the Outer Banks as well, it may not be as many.

Most people I know go thru the Chessy Tunnel. They take I-95 south to I-64 south/east. I've been told the Tunnel is usually starting to back up by 9am or earlier, which means hitting DC by 6am is your best bet, and even then you'll see traffic building that early.

 

[sharadoc]

Ugh - I guess we're back to 81, then.

What about cutting over to 95 at Richmond on 64. Is that backed up too?

 

[uva185]

Ugh - I guess we're back to 81, then.

What about cutting over to 95 at Richmond on 64. Is that backed up too?

That would be a total waste of time. I have made the I-66 to I-81 to I-77 drive a number of times and it is much more pleasant than I-95.

 

[Brian Noble]

There are plenty of backups south of Richmond. Most of the Williamsburg stretch (where 95 is down to 2 lanes) crawls unless you are out of DC super super EARLY.

When we go to OBX, we stay overnight with my BIL over in Clarksville, MD, and we try to hit the road by 5-6AM latest. Much later than that, and you'll get a SLOW tour of the VA countryside.

 

[MEK]

I recently drove through that section of 95 on a Friday afternoon before rush hour traffic and it was a nightmare. I was traveling from Delaware to Richmond. I followed my gps, which was set for shortest route, and it actually took me into DC. arrrgghhh! I should have followed mapquest which suggested going down 301 south. I was already traveling across the Bay Bridge to 50/301.

Because my experience was so traumatic, I decided to return from Richmond on 301 N. Other than a slightly congested residental area around DC, I found it to be an extremely pleasant drive. If I do ever drive to Florida I will almost certainly take 301 south (unless I am traveling in the middle of the night). There is enough residental to make a pit stop, but most of the ride is very scenic and it connects with 95 just north of Richmond near Kings Dominion. If I were you and you are set on leaving at 6am on a Saturday, I would consider this as an alternate. It is a state road, but other than the residential area it moves with minimal traffic lights. Actually rather remote in spots.

 

[Joyful3Heart]

There are plenty of backups south of Richmond. Most of the Williamsburg stretch (where 95 is down to 2 lanes) crawls unless you are out of DC super super EARLY.

When we go to OBX, we stay overnight with my BIL over in Clarksville, MD, and we try to hit the road by 5-6AM latest. Much later than that, and you'll get a SLOW tour of the VA countryside.

Agree here. We've gone to OBX the last few years and we've had less trouble saturdays on 95 with DC than south of DC--we usually hit DC about 10am but the traffic going in to Richmond is often at a standstill due to the bottleneck of cars exiting onto 64 toward VA beach, Williamsburg, and OBX...2 hours average is about what we lose.
Good Luck!

 

[sharadoc]

Agree here. We've gone to OBX the last few years and we've had less trouble saturdays on 95 with DC than south of DC--we usually hit DC about 10am but the traffic going in to Richmond is often at a standstill due to the bottleneck of cars exiting onto 64 toward VA beach, Williamsburg, and OBX...2 hours average is about what we lose.
Good Luck!

Same thing happened to us in August. We got to VA around 10:30 and the radio was saying traffic was backed up for 3 exits. We figured that was manageable, but then it essentially went to totally backed up through Richmond. We got off, had lunch, then used Route 1 and didn't get out of Virginia until 5 pm. We probably lost between 4 and 5 hours!!

I know I have an unnatural fear of driving through the mountains so I was trying to find any way to get out of it. It looks like we're not going to be able to do 95 unless we leave in the middle of the night, which we won't do.

I read on another thread that 81 has a ton of trucks. For those of you who have driven it, is that the case even on weekends? We have found that there is a significant decrease in truck traffic on 95 on weekends, so we're hoping it's the same for 81.

Travel in the summer is hard to do!