Drive from Woodbridge to VA Beach for Thanksgiving (Chesapeake, Richmond: oceanfront, house)

[roninsedge]

Anyone know how this drive is? I will be leaving Wednesday after work along with half the country. I was especially curious as to whether taking Rte 1 south and Rte 17 south were good ideas to avoid traffic on I-95 and I-64. Any tips, hints or horror stories are appreciated.

[ChristineVA]

Horror, horror, horror. Rt. 1 is never a viable options on these days. It works if, say, an accident just happened and you can jump off and bypass. On holidays, summer weekends, etc. it's almost worse than I-95.

That said, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving has gotten a TAD better since people are now getting away even earlier, but I still think you are going to hit traffic. I really am not sure what you can do to avoid it until you get closer to Richmond.

I would actually probably get up fairly early on Thanksgiving Day and head down to arrive there by 10:00 a.m., no later.

[CaliTerp07]

Yeah...although we're not taking your route (we're heading to Baltimore), we're opting to leave early on Thanksgiving morning as well. Last year the trip which usually takes an hour took closer to 4, and we left around noon.

The plan this year is to leave around 7 am on Thursday morning.

[HokieFan]

Leaving early Thursday morning will probably be a lot better than Wednesday afternoon. Traffic will be horrible as a lot of people travel for Thanksgiving so they can stay home for Christmas.

Unless an accident has completely shut down I-95 or I-64, stick to those. Rt. 1 has horrible traffic and with the frequent stop lights, it gets super congested.

[Pandoras]

It is a nightmare! If you are leaving on Wednesday, leave before 4 PM or after 9 PM. I usually leave later at 9:30 PM. If at all possible take HOV. If you see a massive wreck, you can hop off 95 take route 1 then hop back on to 95.

If there is a backup on 64 you can take Route 60. Good luck on your turkey day travels!

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by roninsedge

Anyone know how this drive is? I will be leaving Wednesday after work along with half the country. I was especially curious as to whether taking Rte 1 south and Rte 17 south were good ideas to avoid traffic on I-95 and I-64. Any tips, hints or horror stories are appreciated.

I think a better bet it to wait until late that night or early Thurs Morning. From someone who had a 5 1/2 hour ride from Alexandria to Chesapeake during an afternoon travel day time of departure is everything.

[Nikki75]

I just got back from VB. We left Southern Maryland Friday at noon and got to Oceanfront at 5:30pm. I took Rt. 301 to US-17 and it was a straight shot and nice drive through Tappahannock. It would have been a 4hr trip from my house but we hit traffic in Hampton all the way through the tunnel (rush hour) and there was construction in Gloucester I want to say. Plus we stopped at a WaWa and a Walmart.

We came back home Sunday via I-95 and it was ridiculous and 6hrs. With that said, I just wanted to share the option of Rte 301 out there vs. Rt 1. I think you come through Fredericksburg to King George from Woodbridge.

Happy travels. :-)

[Ebediel]

I live in Tappahannock, VA. I would definitely take the Rt. 301 South and Rt. 17 south way. It is almost always faster and traffic though it will be thick will not be crazy like I95. Once you get as far south as Hampton there's nothing to help there it will be bad probably. I would try to hit that area after 9pm. That will help some. Happy Thanksgiving!!

[justtitans]

To piggyback off of Ebediel, the quickest way to get to 301 off of 95 is through Fredericksburg. If you can get down to Route 3, go east and you will drive all the to King George (it's maybe about 20 minutes) until you meet 301, from there you can ride 301 and when 301 and 207 split, turn off and stay on 301. At this point 301 can take you all the way down to I-295 and of course that will get you to 64.

The other alternative is to do everything I just said to get to 301 and then take 17 like Nikki75 said. My wife is from Portsmouth so I have gone many, many different ways and I actually would recommend taking 17 because 64 can get really backed up around Newport News.

[HokieFan]

Two year old thread....