Florida to Niagara Falls Ontario Trip Observations

[TomC23]

Just got back from a trip to Miami. What’s with all the potholes on the Florida Turnpike southeast of Orlando? For the amount of money I paid in tolls, you’d think that highway would be pristine.

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by Thundarr457

I did this ordeal of a round trip. Here are some observations:


Pennsylvania - below average roads with perpetual construction, the most expensive gas by a wide margin (40 cents more than NY which is not known for low priced anything), limited facilities
.

Those observations aren't isolated. PA raised its gas tax recently due to the hole maintenance got into with heavy car and truck traffic. So now they are doing maintenance. It is strange now to see PA with higher gas prices than NY or MD though.

It is difficult to predict in PA where reasonable traveler facilities would be located. In the southwestern two-thirds of PA look for Sheetz convenience stores that actually have bathrooms and relatively healthy food options.

[march2]

Originally Posted by Thundarr457

I did this ordeal of a round trip. Here are some observations:

Florida - great roads, above average facilities
Georgia - great roads, lots of speed traps, above average facilities
South Carolina - roads are below average, not as many with 3 lanes, average facilities
North Carolina - Charlotte is a nightmare any time of the day or night, lane restrictions, building "express toll lanes" which has reduced the normal I-77 to 2 lanes. There was bumper to bumper traffic for 40 MILES. Rest of roads are average as are facilities
Virginia - good roads, very mountainous and treacherous in places (not their fault), nice facilities. Cheapest gasoline.
West Virginia - as above with really nice facilities
Pennsylvania - below average roads with perpetual construction, the most expensive gas by a wide margin (40 cents more than NY which is not known for low priced anything), limited facilities
New York - worst roads by far, most tolls, the NYS Thruway where it passes through the Seneca Indians Reservation is in abysmal condition, not what you would expect from a toll road, perpetual road construction in Buffalo. The Peace bridge was antiquated 30 years ago, in 6 years it will be 100 years old, it needs to be replaced. The best thing would be for it to be destroyed by an iceberg, when no one is on it, which is unlikely (just kidding).

Excellent post! I've traveled all up and down the east coast for decades on road trips. My findings have been (generally speaking):

Florida: Great roads and rest areas/travel plazas. Very clean.

Georgia: As you said, speed traps at the state borders with FL and SC. Some roads better than others, depending on what county you're in.

South Carolina: Bad roads. Good gas prices. Nice rest areas/travel plazas.

North Carolina: Good roads. Really nice, clean rest areas with lots of info and places to picnic/big trees/well landscaped. I-77 in north Charlotte IS awful. Traffic during the day, construction at night.

Virginia: Great roads. Rest areas are VERY small, don't offer much. As you said, great gas prices.

DC Area: Really good roads, good signage. Traffic can be really bad. OK rest areas and travel plazas.

Delaware: Along with Connecticut, the best travel plazas I've been to. OK roads.

NYC Area: My least favorite area to have to travel through or around in the nation. Between the traffic, potholes, rip off tolls, unclear signage, it's just the worst. Western NJ and heading towards Upstate NY, it gets much better.

Connecticut: Top notched travel plazas. Horrible roads. Potholes everywhere. Really expensive gas.

RI/MA: Good travel plazas, but not many of them. Traditional rest areas are almost non existent. Roads are OK. Traffic if good until you get right in Boston, then the traffic, signage, and road conditions get bad.