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Does the DC area has a big crowd of beach goers? I am from the Philly area and EVERYONE goes to the beach basically every weekend; the big destinations are SIC, Avalon, and OCNJ.
My question is, I am planning to drive from Arlington to Avalon, NJ leaving Friday afternoon. I know I will hit traffic no matter what weekend it is, but how much worse should I prep myself for? Is there a big crowd from the DC area that goes to south jersey beaches? Do people in DC even care for beaches? What about traffic towards Dewey, Bethany & OCMD?
Traffic is hit-miss on US-50, if that's what you meant by traffic toward Bethany. I went there last year and one trip was pretty much fine except for most of MD-404, but another trip was very very slow.
Does the DC area has a big crowd of beach goers? I am from the Philly area and EVERYONE goes to the beach basically every weekend; the big destinations are SIC, Avalon, and OCNJ.
My question is, I am planning to drive from Arlington to Avalon, NJ leaving Friday afternoon. I know I will hit traffic no matter what weekend it is, but how much worse should I prep myself for? Is there a big crowd from the DC area that goes to south jersey beaches? Do people in DC even care for beaches? What about traffic towards Dewey, Bethany & OCMD?
Any insights would be great!
Leave by noon for best results. We left at 3:00, and it took 6.5 hours to get from Arlington to Cape May (which was supposed to be 4 hours). This was in May--it'll be much heavier now.
Although depending where you are/where you're headed, you may avoid a lot of the worst of it. I got stuck on the beltway near 270, and 95 around the tunnel.
Does the DC area has a big crowd of beach goers? I am from the Philly area and EVERYONE goes to the beach basically every weekend; the big destinations are SIC, Avalon, and OCNJ.
My question is, I am planning to drive from Arlington to Avalon, NJ leaving Friday afternoon. I know I will hit traffic no matter what weekend it is, but how much worse should I prep myself for? Is there a big crowd from the DC area that goes to south jersey beaches? Do people in DC even care for beaches? What about traffic towards Dewey, Bethany & OCMD?
Any insights would be great!
I drive up to Cape May a few times a summer (though I spent many summers in Avalon growing up). Most people here seem to go to Ocean City (MD), Bethany/Rehobeth/Dewey, or down to the Outer Banks. A decent number go up to Cape May, but Philly definitely overwhelms the South Jersey crowd.....just like going home!
As far as traffic, if you're going up to NJ the worst spot for me is always Delaware. It takes me about 4 hours to get to Cape May, though Avalon would be a little closer (maybe 3 1/2?). For Delaware, I drove over at night once, and it wasn't so bad. If you leave on a Saturday morning I'd think that the bridge would be packed.
My question is, I am planning to drive from Arlington to Avalon, NJ leaving Friday afternoon. I know I will hit traffic no matter what weekend it is, but how much worse should I prep myself for? Is there a big crowd from the DC area that goes to south jersey beaches? Do people in DC even care for beaches? What about traffic towards Dewey, Bethany & OCMD?
I'm from around Philly too and I can say DC beach habits are a lot different.
From Philly, everyone goes somewhere between AC and Cape May.
From DC, people go everywhere. OC, MD is the most famous destination, but Rehoboth and Dewey Beach are also popular. Eastbound traffic is definitely bad and Bay Bridge delays are epic. Virginians seem to head to Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks more. There are still a few people that go to Cape May though, and still others that just fly to their beach destination (FL, Bahamas, etc.).
As for the Avalon traffic question, you will hit a ton of traffic on Friday afternoon. The worst traffic will be getting out of the DC area. You'll also hit traffic at the tolls in MD and DE (avoid these if possible). It's not beach traffic, just summer vacation traffic.
Once you get to NJ, if you choose local roads, there's lights, but not much traffic until you get to 47. If you choose AC Expressway, you have to deal with the Philly "down the shore" traffic.
Once you get to NJ, if you choose local roads, there's lights, but not much traffic until you get to 47. If you choose AC Expressway, you have to deal with the Philly "down the shore" traffic.
I'm assuming this would hold for Avalon as well as Cape May (since I pass Avalon on the way), but I've found the best way is to take the Delaware Memorial Bridge and then get on rt. 40 to rt 55 to rt 47 to rt 83 to rt 9. For Avalon, just take the exit off of rt 9, for Cape May you take rt 9 to the Garden State Parkway.
Since I leave after work on Fridays, I usually hit NJ around 7-8pm, so the traffic is pretty light. There are more cars on 47 and 55, but nothing that really slows me down that much. Like pcity said, most of your traffic will be rush hour traffic around DC and then tolls.
Another option (if the Bay Bridge isn't looking too bad) is to take rt. 50 East to 301-North. 301 runs right into 896, which will dump you on I-95 right after the Delaware tolls. There are fewer tolls, less traffic (especially once you get past Annapolis), but you'll have to deal with Bay Bridge traffic and slower speeds. This is my go-to route for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but if you time it right it might not be too bad as an alternate to I-95.
Leaving @ 1:30 ish Fri. I'm gonna just suck it up & do 495/95; taking me thru DE & the DE Memorial bridge into south jersey & take back roads from there.. I'm familiar with all the toll bypasses (UGH!!!) in DE; those tolls booths take FOREVER! Thank goodness for ezpass...
Does the DC area has a big crowd of beach goers? I am from the Philly area and EVERYONE goes to the beach basically every weekend; the big destinations are SIC, Avalon, and OCNJ.
My question is, I am planning to drive from Arlington to Avalon, NJ leaving Friday afternoon. I know I will hit traffic no matter what weekend it is, but how much worse should I prep myself for? Is there a big crowd from the DC area that goes to south jersey beaches? Do people in DC even care for beaches? What about traffic towards Dewey, Bethany & OCMD?
Any insights would be great!
Most people from DC as someone mentioned go to the Delaware beaches (Rehoboth , Dewey, Bethany ) and Ocean City MD. Some I know head to VA beaches but that's a bit of a hike.
GEt out as early as you can to avoid the bridge traffic. Once over it you're fine though, there's a phone number you can call for updates too on the traffic situation at the Bay Bridge. I forget what it is, but we call it so often we refer to it as HEY CALL the bridge lady!!! (It's a pre-recorded woman's voice who gives traffic updates around there).
I've spent most of my time at Rehoboth and Dewey (they are next to each other). Lots of people in DC head to the beaches on the weekend, share rentals, have condos... all that stuff... but everyone comes from all over the East coast...
I was there last weekend to take advantage of lax crowds who would rather come for July4th. It was a perfect weekend, since in DC that weekend it was unbareably hot from what I heard.
oh and another recommendation... and I CAN NOT RECOMMED THIS ENOUGH... cause I don't know why it took me so long to do it..
GET AN E-Z PASS!!!
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