Driving from North Jersey - 95 all the way, or avoid DC

[JMcMahonEsq]

We will be making our first trip driving down to WDW in November. We were forced to drive back last year after a disaster at Orlando airport involving a camera battery, and found the drive to not be that bad, for the savings of a flight, especially out of NJ during "Jersey Week." In looking at options for driving down, I see one path being straight Turnpike/95 S trip. It is the shorter trip in millage at 1123, and appears to be the "fastest" at 17 hours. However a secondary route has come up that I have not considered. It is about 80 miles LONGER, so estimated at about an hour more time, 18 hours, but this path would take me 287-78-81-77- 95, and has the benefit of driving AROUND and AVOIDING Washington DC and Virginia. I was wondering if any fellow NJ/NYC people have tried this alternative route to 95, and if the extra 80 miles is worth it for avoiding DC altogether.

 

[JohnD]

I once drove to Boston from DC and back many years ago as I lived in Arlington, VA. I'm also a native of Jacksonville so am familiar with both the Baltimore-Washington corridor and the drive to Jax.

Starting at the NJ turnpike you might try this:

• NJ Turnpike
• Delaware Memorial Bridge
• I-95 S
• I-895 S around Baltimore
• Baltimore-Washington Parkway (295) S
• Washington Beltway Inner loop (I-95 S / 495)
• I-95 S
• I-295 S around Richmond
• I-95 S
• I-295 East Beltway S around Jacksonville
• State Road 9B (Future I-795) S to I-95
• I-95 S
• I-4 W
• WDW

 

[HwdStudio]

I would avoid DC at all costs. The roads are parking lots.

 

[Nemo14]

We've driven down from RI countless times now, and we much prefer the I-81 way. Distance-wise it's longer, but we actually usually save time going that way - no NY/NJ traffic and no Bltimore/DC/Richmond traffic.

 

[monothingie]

I'm exit 18W off the turnpike, live by the GWB, the last time we drove was in 2004. We did the return non-stop in 18 hours. I did about 60% of the driving and by the time I got to Virginia I didn't know which way was up, I made it as far as Exit 6 on the turnpike, before someone else took over again. Spent the next day just recovering from driving. It's not worth it, especially if you are doing most of the driving and have kids with you.

IF you're willing to settle for Spirit (worst ever airline but they are the cheapest), or United which has some good prices for flights during off hours (afternoon, late at night, early morning) or Southwest which has 2 non-stops from EWR to MCO that a priced very well, I would stick to flying.

 

[StarshipDisney]

I have driven I-95 that far multiple times and it all depends on what time you hit DC. If it is rush hour or anywhere close, you will have problems. If you hit DC off peak, I have usually driven through with no problem.

I have always stayed I-95. But that is just me.

 

[allgiggles]

We've done the I-95 drive from SE PA eight times now. We've rarely had a problem in DC. We do try to avoid hitting that area at rush hour, though. We did drive through there at 4:00 on a Friday one trip and that was not fun...but we still only lost about 30 minutes of time which means it was still faster than taking the other route. On our trip last month, we had Waze and Google Maps running on our phones to keep us up-to-date on slowdowns and accidents. We had one 10-minute slow down north of DC but staying on 95 was still the fastest route (according to Waze). Then as we got closer to DC there was a 45 minute slowdown but Waze/GM told us to use the EZ Pass Express lanes which had us zipping by the standstill traffic and we only lost 5 minutes. It was worth the extra $12 or so in tolls to do that. Those Express lanes can be a lifesaver when there are accidents or slowdowns.

We have a lot of friends from this area who always take the 78-81-77-95 because they don't want to deal with the DC traffic. We travel the 78-81 route for various things (not Disney) and when there's an accident on one of those routes, you can be stuck for hours -- literally. In May, a friend of ours was stuck on 78 for six hours due to an accident involving several vehicles and 2 fatalities. They were about a half a mile behind the accident. There were so many trucks/buses behind them that there was no way for the lanes to be cleared so that cars could turn around and drive the wrong way to get back to the last exit (5 miles away). It is not uncommon to be stuck for a few hours (6 is unusual) when there is an accident. Even when you can get off, the alternate routes off of 78 & 81 can be very slow routes through small towns with lots of traffic lights. We've only had 2 trips where we lost more than 45 minutes of time by taking the I-95 route...and both of those would have been avoided if Waze/GM existed at the time as we would have known to re-route. It's not worth it to us to take the longer route just in case we hit traffic in DC (or wherever). The I-95 route works for us...YMMV. No pun intended.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

We too were at the airport during the evacuation and had to get a rental and drive back to NJ...I always wanted to make that trip, but my DW was like NO WAY!! Well, she had no choice, we made it home to Toms River in 18 hours and she would actually like to do it again!
Having made trips to Raleigh, NC many times, I've always taken the 95S route all the way down. As everyone has said, it all depends on the timing. If you stay away from the DC corridor until about 9 am or hit it before 6 am, you SHOULD be OK. Just be advised that the traffic is usually past DC for about another 40 miles or so to about Fredericksburg, VA. Also, if 95 is a parking lot, you can always get off and take rt. 1 south (runs parallel to 95, but its just like 1 in NJ, lights, traffic, etc, but if you need to bypass an accident, it's the way to go.

BOTTOM LINE, if you can handle traffic in NJ, (287, 3, 4, 22, etc), it really not that bad.

 

[zero creativity]

I live a half an hour south of D.C., and I would stay away from 95 in the afternoon. If you leave too early or too late you can run right into DC traffic. Leaving about 8 am from NJ should be fine. 81 in my experience can have its own issues people tend to treat it like the autobahn.
I used to live in Trenton and made the trip through D.C. At least once a month.

 

[eliza61nyc]

I'll echo Starship, we drive down from NJ/Philly all the time. I-95 pretty much all the way. we time the trip so we are past DC by 5:30 am. Yes it means leaving at the Ungodly hour of around 2-2:30 am, 3 am at the latest but it's worth it for us.
Kids easily fall back asleep and then we they wake up, we stop at the gazillon cracker barrels along the way for breakfast.

 

[Legendary]

We live in Northern VA just outside of DC with family up in NJ so we travel the 95 route a lot. As long as you are in and out of the DC area before rush hour it is usually fine. Traveling that route in general on any given Friday is also very congested I would avoid that if possible.

 

[JIMINYCR]

We always go 81-77, to avoid DC. We also take 295-So or E to go around the Jacksonville area traffic. A friend recently advised us to go 417-S to avoid a lot of the crazy Rte 4 traffic around Orlando.

 

[Dunston]

Avoid DC at all costs, man.

 

[MaryJaneP]

As all other have said (or seemed to infer), TIMING is #1 and avoidance of D.C. is #2. We have driven this stretch to WDW numerous times but seem to recall some route 495 west of D.C. seemed to work for us (usually). Again, major parking lot if we hit it anywhere near rush (AM, Noon, or PM). Good Luck, not a bad drive.

 

[Nemo14]

We always go 81-77, to avoid DC. We also take 295-So or E to go around the Jacksonville area traffic. A friend recently advised us to go 417-S to avoid a lot of the crazy Rte 4 traffic around Orlando.

We always take 417. It's a toll road but worth the $$.We pick it up off of I-4 around Sanford.

 

[bsiev1977]

If your timing would have you near DC anytime near or during rush hour, I’d say yes avoid at all costs.

 

[updownandsideways]

I drive every year from Maryland to Orlando via 1-95. We leave around midnight and there is light traffic all the way down.

 

[LeighM]

I live in Virginia and traffic on 95 is usually worse from the DC area to Fredericksburg, VA. And again thru Richmond. Not sure what part you're traveling from, but we often avoid 95 completely and will take 301 to 50. At least I think it's 50. Rte 301 avoids a lot of the traffic that is on 95 and Rte 1. Rte 301 will take you to 295 around Richmond and you can bypass a lot of the traffic and road work there. We take 95 all the way to Orlando once 295 merges with 95 near Petersburg.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

We live in Northern VA just outside of DC with family up in NJ so we travel the 95 route a lot. As long as you are in and out of the DC area before rush hour it is usually fine. Traveling that route in general on any given Friday is also very congested I would avoid that if possible.

Thanks Legendary. We will actually be leaving on a Friday, after the kids get out of school. Our schedule as planned would have us getting to the DC area around 8-9PM. Do you think that is late enough to avoid the majority of the rush our traffic? We could always adjust our departure time or maybe meal time to hit DC closer to 10PM range, but I would like to drive until about midnight/1 and wanted to maximize how far south we could get on Friday.