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We are driving to FL from Long Island next week. What is the best way to get thru Washington, DC? Is best to stay on I-95 or go around downtown DC?
Forget 95. Take 78 through jersey and PA to 81 to 77 to 26 and back to 95 when you're all the way down in SC. I'll never take 95 again after trying that route.
Unless time is not an issue, driving around DC does little for you. I've made that drive probably over 100 times and the best strategy is timing the rush hour. When heading south, either pass through the Beltway area between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM or after 7:00 PM.
Also, and this is a biggy, keep your favorite traffic/mapping application powered up and keep an eye on developing traffic conditions. Starting in Delaware you have the option of jumping over to Route 301 which will circumvent quite a bit of the traffic hot spots should they pop up unexpectedly. But also remember, if there's really bad traffic due to something unexpected, the secondary roads become flooded, slow to a crawl, and can actually take much longer than if sitting in the I-95 traffic.
I make the drive every year. The departure time is very important. I usually leave between noon and 1pm and never hit any kind of traffic going down. I get to Orlando by 10am. I follow the GPS route and it does a decent job with traffic updates and reroutes. Coming back up, I leave between 9 am and 10am and home by 7am.
Forget 95. Take 78 through jersey and PA to 81 to 77 to 26 and back to 95 when you're all the way down in SC. I'll never take 95 again after trying that route.
This route works if your destination is somewhere like Charlotte or Atlanta or points west, but for most of Florida, it is hours out of the way. As stated leave at night or time your trip so you get through the Baltimore/DC area between 10 and 2 PM.
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