to 301/295 or to not 301/295?

[slappy magoo]

Hey there hi there ho there WDWMagicketeers...

If you were planning on driving mostly overnight to WDW from oh let's say the Jersey area, and your timing would get you in the DC area around 10pm, would you bother trying to avoid DC traffic by going down 301 until you get to the Bowling Green area? Or would you figger that the traffic wouldn't be so bad to warrant the detour?

And because my memory is shot, is any part of the 301 detour "local traffic" with stoplights? Or is it still all a straight-ish shot once you deal with getting on and off any necessary exit/entrance ramps?

And once you approach Richmond, is it better to go around it via 295?

Just remember, if we take your advice and we get stuck in traffic, my family and I will haunt you to your grave. But, you know, no pressure or anything...

 

[bamillerpa]

We just came home last weekend and we hit Richmond a little before lunch. We didn't take the bypass and had no problems. On a different trip we did take the bypass and there were hardly any cars on it but it didn't seem to save us any time. We also drove through DC and there is some construction but nothing that slowed us down. If you are hitting it around 10:00 I can't imagine you would have any problems. I would just take the fastest route.

 

[wm49rs]

Hey there hi there ho there WDWMagicketeers...

If you were planning on driving mostly overnight to WDW from oh let's say the Jersey area, and your timing would get you in the DC area around 10pm, would you bother trying to avoid DC traffic by going down 301 until you get to the Bowling Green area? Or would you figger that the traffic wouldn't be so bad to warrant the detour?

And because my memory is shot, is any part of the 301 detour "local traffic" with stoplights? Or is it still all a straight-ish shot once you deal with getting on and off any necessary exit/entrance ramps?

And once you approach Richmond, is it better to go around it via 295?

Just remember, if we take your advice and we get stuck in traffic, my family and I will haunt you to your grave. But, you know, no pressure or anything...

At 10PM, save for construction (and you can probably check on the status of any road work on the VA DOT website), the traffic isn't that bad. Police radar traps aside, you may actually make good time through the area.

And I'd say ditto for 295 around Richmond. Unless there's nighttime construction, taking the beltway around won't save you any time (I'm assuming, of course, that you're going straight through after D.C.). :wave:

 

[tizzo]

Hey there hi there ho there WDWMagicketeers...

If you were planning on driving mostly overnight to WDW from oh let's say the Jersey area, and your timing would get you in the DC area around 10pm, would you bother trying to avoid DC traffic by going down 301 until you get to the Bowling Green area? Or would you figger that the traffic wouldn't be so bad to warrant the detour?

And because my memory is shot, is any part of the 301 detour "local traffic" with stoplights? Or is it still all a straight-ish shot once you deal with getting on and off any necessary exit/entrance ramps?

And once you approach Richmond, is it better to go around it via 295?

Just remember, if we take your advice and we get stuck in traffic, my family and I will haunt you to your grave. But, you know, no pressure or anything...

I haven't tried 301 before (but if you end up doing it I'd love to hear about your experience, I'm always up for an alternative through that area).

I have used the Richmond bypass before, but only a couple of times. I think it's a couple miles longer but much less traffic normally, but if you expect to hit DC at 10PM then you'll be hitting Richmond after midnight in which case I don't think there's much point in taking the bypass. Even during the day we don't usually take it unless circumstances warrant - IE if we're already seeing traffic backing up when we get there.

 

[Dawg4Mickey]

Living off the 301 corridor, I would not recommend coming this way. You will go through many small towns (mine included) where the speed limits will abruptly change from 55 to 35 in a matter of seconds. Since you will be coming through the DC area around 10 PM you will not have any issues with traffic, especially over the bridge with the new through lanes. There will be some construction more that likely but you should have no problems sticking to the highway down to the 295 bypass near Richmond.

As for that area, I agree with the above poster that you should not have any issues with traffic.