I-80 or I-76? (Harrisburg, Butler, DuBois: houses, wedding, prices)

[cooky01]

Traveling from Cranberry to Northern NJ for cousin's wedding.

Does anyone know if it's better to go I-80 all the way, or I-76/Turnpike, then I-78?
Which route is better w/ less congestion?

TIA

[okaydorothy]

I travel on rte 80 a lot and much prefer it to the turnpike. Rarely are there any incidents. Although on Monday coming west, I passed a huge accident ; about 20 vehicles but that is rare. It was also white out conditions.

[kofasetic]

Do you use Google maps or Waze?
You'll always have the fastest route available to you in real-time.

[JoeP]

If it's Northern Jersey, seems like 80 would have an edge

[DurangoJoe]

Interstate 80 with a doubt. Takes you right into northern Jersey.

[Herodotus]

Check the weather. Avoid I-80 if there's a forecast for lake effect snow.

[szug-bot]

I-80, no doubt.

[Enough_Already]

Originally Posted by cooky01

Traveling from Cranberry to Northern NJ for cousin's wedding.

Does anyone know if it's better to go I-80 all the way, or I-76/Turnpike, then I-78?
Which route is better w/ less congestion?

TIA

You might want to consider cost as well. The Turnpike is on of the most expensive toll roads in the country. Also my experience is gas prices can be lower along I-80 compared to the Turnpike.

[ki0eh]

I-80 can get pretty crowded either side of the Stroudsburgs. Otherwise not too bad, likely has the edge from Cranberry Twp/Butler other than lake snow conditions from DuBois to Milesburg. From downtown and east (not from Cranberry), 22 to 99 to 80 has some attraction, however Cresson Mountain will be worse than either 80 or 76 in lake snows, and traffic worse on Penn State home football weekends. Do not, do not, do not, be tempted by 28 to 80, very slow going from Kittanning to Brookville.

From Harrisburg, 78 (lately, after some chronic road work was cleared up) to 287 isn't too bad usually. To, say, eastern Bergen County NJ where it's a haul over from 287, I'll actually take the turnpikes the whole way since my trips are typically counter-traffic. (Except right now the Turnpike bridge over the Delaware from PA into NJ is closed since they found a big crack in it.)

[MountainDewGuy]

The thing with using 78 is that it's a pretty bust truck route due to the buildup of warehouses. So many people prefer to avoid it.

In my opinion though, 6 of one...