Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am moving to the Florida Keys from Easthampton Mass and am leaving Sunday Sept 30th at 2 am. I will be taking I-95 all the way. Does anyone know if I will beat any "rush hour" traffic? I have NEVER driven alone on a long trip as this will be and would like to be prepared...
Thats a near 24 hr. trip. Are you stopping over anywhere along the way? If you're going it alone, I hope so. That's a hard drive. You can go to google maps right now and tear the trip apart and calculate where you'll be at those times. I don't know if 5 or 6am is early enough to beat NYC traffic!
I am moving to the Florida Keys from Easthampton Mass and am leaving Sunday Sept 30th at 2 am.
I will be taking I-95 all the way. Does anyone know if I will beat any "rush hour" traffic?
You'll be passing through about 6 major metro areas and another 5 smaller ones.
They'll ALL have local traffic patterns to be aware of.
Get a paper map atlas. Listen to the radio. Be aware.
That's probably a good time to leave. Even earlier might be better because you don't want to hit that morning traffic in CT or NYC. You might get stuck in NJ with all the tolls. It's funny because I used to leave from Easthampton. No matter when I left I would hit traffic somewhere. You need to time it so that you are past NYC/NJ by morning rush hour which can be very early.
Once you're past that the next mess can be around DC. I also used to drive from central CT to the Keys but with extra drivers. If you've never done it before you may not know what your tolerance is, how long you can drive without seeing mirages or falling asleep or just not being very alert.
I can make it as far as Virginia or NC but it's not pleasant. I would say to get past NYC/NJ mess and then drive some more until you can find a place to sleep. Trouble is, by then it's day time and motels won't let you in until later on.
Maybe someone else will know how to do it but I could never do it alone. I drove straight though many times but always with extra drivers so that I could get some sleep while they drove.
I think it's crazy NOT to stop for sleep. Years ago I remember dozing off on a long drive but waking up soon enough to avoid driving off the road. I now realize that driving too long in one shot is an unreasonable risk. It is not only a risk for yourself it is also a risk to others on the road.
My personal tolerance is no more than 12 hours, with regular stops. And measured by time and not distance.
Hopefully the original poster is not suggesting they will be driving for 24 hours straight by themselves. If so, everyone stay clear of I-95 on September 30 because this person will likely create a spectacular disaster somewhere along the route when they fall asleep at the wheel, hopefully not taking innocent drivers along with them.
You will hit rush hour due to basic geography. You will be traveling through the northeast megalopolis (BOS-NY-WASH). Pick your traffic poison: NYC Metro (including Connecticut and northern NJ), Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC...
You live about a 6 hour drive from DC, so you should be right in the prime time of traffic from south of Philly right through DC. Not fun.
I would leave at midnight to get through CT & NY & NJ rush hour which starts about 5am
From there I would do a detour to I81 which adds about 100 miles to your trip but you won't have the NJ turnpike (I95 in NJ) and the endless construction, DC, Baltimore, Richmond VA traffic to worry about.
I plan on driving to Cape Coral in DEC and unless the Shenandoah Valley has forecasts for snow will take this route my self, plus it's a nice scenic interstate compared to 95
I don't get it, you say you're leaving Sunday, Sept. 30th. Sept. 30th is Monday - everyone has replied as though you are leaving on a Monday. But if you're leaving on a Sunday, there will be no rush hour traffic to miss the entire way! That would be best, especially if you're driving a UHaul.
I have done this trip plenty of times by myself [including a move down to SFL, and another one back up North]. If you're comfortable driving on highways, there will be no problem. It helps a lot if you have a GPS so you can keep your eyes on the road. As you get near major cities, especially in the NY/NJ area, the roads will get a little hectic, and there will be some people weaving and whizzing around. The road will become 6 lanes in each direction in some places. Don't get distracted or nervous, there are plenty of signs, and it's not a big deal. In fact, traffic can be a good thing because you don't have to look around so fast to make sure you're in the right lane and can relax. I-95 does get confusing in NY/NJ. If you can, have an EZ Pass. If not, have toll money ready and watch the lanes to be sure you get in a cash lane. This is because I-95 has a lot of quick changes that weave in and out with the NJ Turnpike, and if you accidentally end up on the Turnpike it's no big deal, they parallel each other for quite a while, but once in a while you'll have to pay a toll. Look through your route on Google maps at fairly close range the entire way down, so you can see what to expect. There are endless roads - if you make a wrong move and end up taking an exit or getting on a different highway, it will be easy to get back to 95 pretty much the whole way down.
People are right here, sleep is the main issue. I personally would not choose to go in the middle of the night like that, because there is nothing to see and if you are normally awake in the daytime, it will be much harder to stay awake. You'll be riled up at first, but by 4AM you'll start to drag and will have poor reaction time. Drinking a ton of caffeine just interferes with your good judgement and makes you jittery, plus makes you have to stop for a bathroom every hour. Bring tons of good music, and do NOT talk on the phone even with a hands-free devices during spaces of stop and go traffic, or text and drive. If you get slowed down for traffic or an accident, groove to your favorite tunes and enjoy thinking about your new life!
There is no reason to fear rush hour, it is annoying, but is not a big deal. The worst part about it is that you need to leave a good amount of space between yourself and the car in front of you because accidents are way more common in start and stop traffic - but commuters in big cities will tend to squeeze into the space you left to try to crawl ahead in the traffic. Add an hour to your time if you end up passing NYC in rush hour (two if there's an accident somewhere), add a half hour extra in the other cities (an hour if there's an accident). It feels longer, but the rest of the way goes so fast that it doesn't really hurt your drive time much. It's not like you're using local roads, which really would be a nightmare - you're just passing the city at these points. It's slightly slower. But having made the trip so many times in different seasons, I can tell you that's not worth losing sleep and changing schedule much over - you can have every bit as much of a slow-down anywhere along 95, simply because of an accident. There is no way to predict that. You can avoid the Northern rush hours simply by leaving at 10AM or so, if you plan on stopping to sleep anyway. The NYC metro area is worst between 7 and 9 AM, and 5 and 7PM (4-8PM on Fridays). If you can avoid Boston during its height, and get past NYC before or after it's morning rush, it will be no problem. Philly won't be too bad. D.C. is a pain, but you can probably fairly easily miss hitting it at 7-9AM or 5-7PM.
Be sure to have a plan if you have car trouble. If you can, have the car go through a multi-point oil change inspection, or much better schedule your major mile maintenance before you leave (50k, 90k, etc. - it doesn't matter if your car is exactly at that mileage, just tell them you want the big inspection closest to whatever your mileage is - it may cost $500, but I have found it well worth it because road trips bring car trouble pretty consistently). Make absolutely sure you have a working and filled spare tire in your car, and check the tire pressure before you leave. Considering getting AAA or roadside assistance if you don't have it just for the trip - my car insurance allows for roadside at only $4/month, and I have used the hell out of it since it allows unlimited jumps, and some free help with other issues. You can always cancel it after. Plan for one tire blow in the trip - statistically speaking, for the distance you are going it is possible. Make sure you are charging your phone while driving in case you need it.
It might sound like I'm speaking the obvious, but the more prepared you are, the more relaxed and fun the trip is. So to me, these road safety issues are worth a mention. Don't get anal about keeping to a time schedule - plan for several hours of delays, and take a Keys attitude! You're on island time - you get there when you get there. Enjoy it on the way down.
If you're driving a UHaul, that is not loads of fun. Be sure to pack it securely with heaviest things on the bottom, don't make it too top-heavy, and resist the temptation to take it much above 65mph. They guzzle gas like crazy so it will just bankrupt you, and they really can't handle the higher speeds safely, especially in high wind. Consider that if you are stopping somewhere overnight, you want all your possessions to be locked up safely, and you don't want anything visible that people will want to steal.
There are easy exits for gas, food, and hotels all the way along 95. Areas like NJ and South FL offer the easiest access for UHauls - you can take an exit for a service station and get what you need without ever even leaving the highway, making it very easy to also get right back on the highway after. If Uhauling it, really try to stay in the rightmost lane, and near big cities in the 2nd rightmost lane (because of lots of exit onlys and crazy people entering the ramps) - visibility in those things is very poor, and they are kind of wide so hard to keep in the lane at high speeds. Staying in the left lane long-term for a rental truck like that is for people with dreams of being a kamikaze pilot, not for those who want to make it through the trip in one piece.
Make absolutely sure you've gotten good sleep by the time you enter FL. You'll have plenty to entertain you on the way down, with endless signs for "South of the Border" amusement park heading into SC, then lots of signs for Indian River Fruit and Adult stores in Northern FL. Northern FL, particularly Jacksonville to Daytona, has tons of broken glass and accident remains on the highway because there are a lot of accidents. Be cautious - people will drive like maniacs, and there will be many strips of tires and things that can cause you to blow a tire yourself. You also need to be alert because the drive through FL is excessively boring. It is about 8 hours of absolutely nothing, straight wide driving with very little to see. Even if you are doing fine with it, others on the road are starting to get sleepy, or the road lines are starting to blur together. Just keep your distance and be aware, and you should be fine. Northern FL also sets up a lot of speed traps along I-95, so this is not a time to get cocky.
As you get down to SFL, you'll see more interesting signs for Harley Davidson, Hobie Surf Shop, you'll see coconut palms, and you'll see the delight of the road, SFL kids hotrodding it. Every single time I have driven this stretch of I-95, there have been at least 6 different high-level sport cars weaving through the traffic at speeds somewhere around 120 miles an hour. Rich kids like to pretend they're playing a video game, and for whatever reason, SFL cops do not stop them. The other worry you have is that SFL troopers and police are by far the worst drivers on the road. I have not driven the highway a single time without seeing multiple patrol cars whiz by everyone at least 20mph above the speed limit (which is saying a lot, the speed limit in most of FL is 70mph), for no apparent reason other than being a d*ck, with no lights on and no siren. The will ride your ***** not to pull you over, but because they are bored and want to sail through at 100mph and your car doing 80 is blocking their joy ride. They see it as a privilege of their job not to follow any of the laws and put themselves above others. It is a notoriously corrupt area, so I'm not saying anything I think isn't already widely known in the area.
A SunPass can help in FL, but inexplicably FL has decided to put these lanes on the far right of every toll plaza, negating the idea of it saving you time. If you're in the left lane, prepare to slow down and cross multiple stopped lanes of traffic, then back again, just to "save time." In SFL, parts of I-95 are now SunPass only - not a big deal, if you don't have one just keep driving and they will send you a bill for the pittance toll by taking a photo of your license plate. (Another thing that makes no sense and is inefficient - I don't know what they do if you are among the 50% of drivers there in a rental car on vacation.) Try to avoid SFL rush-hour traffic just North of Ft. Lauderdale into the Northern half of Miami. Unlike in NYC and elsewhere, this is really a nightmare. People in the area predominantly learned to drive in countries where traffic laws are not really enforced, or are tourists who don't know where they are and don't care how safe they're driving so consequently Miami especially has horrifically bad drivers (accounting for an extremely high car insurance rate). Whereas NYC area drivers are fast but know what they're doing (they won't yield for you to merge but they will make a space for you without fail when you go ahead and merge anyway, this is what they are expecting you to do), Miami drivers are fast and don't know what they're doing. A very big difference. I have been rear-ended and been next to pile-ups several times on 95 because of people who can't understand the concept of watching the road instead of the phone during traffic, and not tailing people during rush hour. One time it happened after driving all the way from up North, only 20 minutes from home! FL drivers suck. (That time, there was a cop car next to us, so we looked to him for help. He said he is part of the Marine Patrol, he handles people who abuse dolphins, not traffic accidents. Of course. Then he got on the right shoulder and raced past the pile-up with no lights or siren on, without calling anyone to assist us.)
I would recommend stopping overnight or at least a long nap before Key Largo if you're driving to the Middle or Lower Keys. US-1 gets very tricky, full of quick stops and starts and crazy tourist drivers. It would be hard to do that after a super long drive safely, especially if you're driving a rental truck. Also, you probably already know it can get some insane stopped traffic for hours during a festival or if there's an accident - that would be really hard to take when you're so close to the end, and you are so burned out. Resist the incredibly strong urge to speed like a manic just because you really want to get home after this long trip - I have been there, and it's really not worth it. Arrive in one piece, calm, in an island frame of mind, with no tickets and no huge car repair bills, so you can start your new life happily!
I know this was perhaps surprisingly detailed, but I have like I said made this drive many many times, and also I am about to move back down there again in only a few months, so it was good to run through it in my mind, too! Lots of people make this trip, or at least a segment of it, every year, so probably the details will help someone even if parts of it don't apply to you.
Why do so many people take I95 all the way from NE to Fla?
That is a terrible ride. Take alternate routes around NJ, DC and pick up I95 in Rocky Mt NC thru to FLA,
So it adds 90 miles to the trip that's 90 miles of no tolls and very little traffic.
The NJTP sucks as does all the bypass routes around DC.
Just because everybody takes the wrong route doesn't mean the OP has to.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
