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We're moving to Las Cruces from Philadelphia. I was wondering if anyone has experience driving from the Northeast and has any suggestions on the quickest/least stressful route? I-40, I-70, or I-64/I-44/I-40 are the routes suggested by google. Any thoughts?
We're moving to Las Cruces from Philadelphia. I was wondering if anyone has experience driving from the Northeast and has any suggestions on the quickest/least stressful route? I-40, I-70, or I-64/I-44/I-40 are the routes suggested by google. Any thoughts?
I or we (my family) have done it several times over the years from the Chambersburg, PA area.
I'd second that route above. Just drove it from Philly to Albuquerque in July and it was a pretty easy drive. We were moving with a dog and four cats so we took our time and stayed in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and OKC.
When I lived in Chicago, a long time ago, and was going to drive to Los Angeles, people said "take the Los Angeles Expressway." The airline flight from Chicago to Los Angeles had been advertised on TV as "the Los Angeles Expressway" and everyone seemed to think they had to be cute.
I drove from North NJ to Las Cruces twice. Each time I took a south-westerly route that took me through VA, TN (Nashville and Memphis), Little Rock, Arkansas, Dallas, El Paso and then into Las Cruces.
Probably wasn't the fastest, but, as I was traveling in December and in February, I wanted to avoid bad/cold weather.
A couple of things to mention about turning onto US-54 at Santa Rosa. I always find the interchanges at Vaughn confusing and it's easy to miss the US-54 turn-off just after Vaughn. This route does save at least an hour and is 95 miles shorter than continuing on IH-40 to IH-25.
As opposed to driving interstate all the way to Las Cruces on divided highway, US-54 is almost all 2-lane, albeit "improved" 2-lane much of the way, until the junction with US-70 at Tularosa. Additionally, the speed limit on US-54 is 55/65mph as opposed to 70/75mph on the interstates (IH-40/25). From Tularosa to Las Cruces is on 4-lane divided, but not interstate (US-70). Because these highways are NOT controlled access, as is the case on interstates, extra alertness is essential. There are frequent accidents on US-54 - many rollovers due to driver fatigue/inattention.
I have driven several times from El Paso (just south of Las Cruces) to Central PA and then back again. The route above that Poncho_NM has a link to is the quickest. I normally stayed overnight in the St. Louis and Oklahoma City areas.
I'd second that route above. Just drove it from Philly to Albuquerque in July and it was a pretty easy drive. We were moving with a dog and four cats so we took our time and stayed in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and OKC.
I third it. We just drove that route back to DC about 3 weeks ago. There are tolls in Oklahoma, but otherwise a nice drive. The Ozarks were pretty.
yes, Ponchos route for sure. We drove here from Ohio and took 70 going diagonal through Kansas taking some weird back roads. We wanted to get here quick because we had our farm with us. The most boring route ever. Also drove a v8 1999 pickup that got like 6 mpg going through Kansas because of the rolling hills. Couldn't keep cruise control on because gears kept changing and making it worse. Our landlord told us we should of took the route poncho suggested.
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