Tips for I-66 W (Charlottesville, Manassas: live, to move, station)

[disector88]

Hi,

Some friends and I are planning to take a road trip to New Orleans, LA over the Xmas holiday weekend and were hoping for some tips from the traffic gurus here!

I live near the Dunn Loring Metro station in Vienna/Falls Church area and plan to leave at around 7 pm on Friday. Google maps says that I should take I-66 W to I-81, but from what I've seen 66 can get really bad. I was thinking we could take Lee Hwy 29 to Gainesville, and join the 66 from there. Would this be a good idea ? Any other alternate routes?

Many thanks!

[knopfler]

Meh...you won't save any time. Other folks have thought of that.

That, and I-66 doesn't largely clear up until Exit 40/Haymarket, and you'll be getting on I-66 at Exit 43/Gainesville, which means you won't even have cleared all the traffic.

Just hang out on I-66 - it's the best option. Idea: Since you will be HOV, you can hang out in the left lane, which should be a little better. HOV ends at 7pm though, so you'll have to scoot a little quicker in order to use that.

Hope this helps!

[DavidS827]

With it being Christmas break, I would be surprised if you hit any traffic on 66 in Gainesville. Especially with it being a little later on a Friday evening. If there is traffic, just make sure to stay in the left lane as most people will be getting off on the 29 south exit; So you'll be able to move on through with little problems.

[knopfler]

Originally Posted by DavidS827

With it being Christmas break, I would be surprised if you hit any traffic on 66 in Gainesville. Especially with it being a little later on a Friday evening. If there is traffic, just make sure to stay in the left lane as most people will be getting off on the 29 south exit; So you'll be able to move on through with little problems.

Ha! You must be kidding! Friday the 21st will likely be one of the craziest get-out-of-Dodge days of the year, with people taking off Monday the 24th to create a 4 day Christmas holiday.

[disector88]

Since we're planning on taking I-81 pretty far south, is there any good way to skip 66 altogether and head SW.

i.e. take 28 South through Manassas, 29 South to Charlottesville and then 64 W to 81 ?

[Luke29]

Just don't leave until around 8.30 pm. I-66 is going to be a mess starting 2pm until 8ish. It will probably take you 3 hrs from vienna to gainesville where traffic fades out should you decided to leave between 4 and 6 pm.

[DavidS827]

Originally Posted by knopfler

Ha! You must be kidding! Friday the 21st will likely be one of the craziest get-out-of-Dodge days of the year, with people taking off Monday the 24th to create a 4 day Christmas holiday.

66 to 81 or 66 to 17 is the way I take for just about every major holiday (visiting family in western PA) and traffic is never really that bad.

[knopfler]

Originally Posted by DavidS827

66 to 81 or 66 to 17 is the way I take for just about every major holiday (visiting family in western PA) and traffic is never really that bad.

Heh...starting in Gainesville, or starting in Dunn Loring?

[knopfler]

Originally Posted by disector88

Since we're planning on taking I-81 pretty far south, is there any good way to skip 66 altogether and head SW.

i.e. take 28 South through Manassas, 29 South to Charlottesville and then 64 W to 81 ?

You so completely don't want to take 28 South through Manassas during rush hour, let alone December 21.

You can, however, take Route 15 South from Haymarket to pick up 29 South to Charlottesville. I like that idea better than 28 South.

Alternatively, if traffic on I-66 through Manassas and Gainesville is really crappy that day, you can additionally take Exit 47A, Route 234 Business South towards Manassas, make a R onto Sudley Manor Road, carry it until it ends at Vint Hill Road, then turn R onto Vint Hill Road to meet up with Route 29 south of Gainesville. That's a real time saver if there's a big jam between exits 47 and 43, which on December 21 there may well be.

Hope this helps!

[DavidS827]

Gainesville...I guess I was just trying to say that the traffic wont be bad enough that one would need to avoid it.