York to Fort Kent, ME on I-95 and Rt 1 is 386 miles.
Pensacola to Key West, FL on I-10 and I-75 is 832 miles.
Actually the spaces are infuriating if you think of it way, because it means lots of people are letting gaps appear in “move 5 feet, then wait from 10-60 seconds to move another 5 feet” traffic, thus making the “10-60 second” period extend to the higher part of the range.
And yes, the construction zone is spot-on as described by Celidin, the northbound Turnpike south of Bordentown, which means that not only is the traffic congestion blood boilingly excruciating, the view out the window is equally dismal. Torn up asphalt and dirt, cranes and power lines, usually a conspicuous absence of construction workers, etc.
BTW, the OP references SF to LA as an example of long distances compared to the east coast. It’s 381 miles according to Google Maps (measuring city center to city center). Note that while SF is often referred to as “northern” California, to distinguish it from LA and “southern” California, it’s actually in the middle of the state. And south of central LA, you’ve still got another 120 miles to get to San Diego. Road distances between points close to CA’s north and south borders are more like 800 miles.
True - but also that in the Northeast, going even as little as 90 miles away is considered traveling to another area. According to Google Maps, NYC to Philly is about 95 miles south by highway; NE to New Haven, CT is 85 miles; west to Allentown, PA is 93 miles; and north to the foot of the Catskills Mountains and its many scenic resorts is about 95-100 miles. And many people will NEVER have any reason to go to those places in their entire life.
In the spirit of the OP, which asked if travel between (say) Philly or Cincinnati(!) to Boston were considered more routine than going between LA and SF in California (which the OP considered a Big Deal), the answer is “yes, but only sort of”. I’d say it’s just as Big a Deal to consider driving between Baltimore/DC and NYC, or NYC to Boston, as it is to a Californian to go between SF and LA, even if the driving distance is less than half: about 187 miles NYC/Baltimore, vs. 381 miles between LA and SF (cited by Google Maps), and 218 miles from NYC to Boston. That’s because the “worst case time” it takes to do these trips approximates the best case time it takes to go from SF to LA (6 hours).
On the other hand, it’s pretty easy to do without driving, which is where it gets to feeling more routine since the day to day experience of living in many of the NE cities involves mass transit options. (There are in fact people who commute from the Philly suburbs (or even from the city of Philadelphia itself) to NYC every day, or vice versa, with a sub-2-hour train ride each way. )There are multiple bus lines with $25 or less fares and on-board WiFi shuttling between all of these cities (Boston => NYC => Philadelphia => Baltimore => Washington, DC), and with the rail connections you could take a NYC subway to Penn Station to Amtrak to the Philly or DC or Boston metro rail system and get somewhere without ever going above ground, thereby giving a real feeling of “single system” connectivity.
Is that new? 15 years ago or so I used to go to Allentown all the time that way, and I don’t remember any tolls either way.
Just out of curiosity, is there any part of the New Jersey Turnpike where the view outside the window is considered attractive?
Well, there’s also this view of NJ. 
I was mentally comparing it to the drive from LA to SF, though, which was in fact quite scenic in a number of places, or other stretches of road like I-95 through Maryland. So that potentially 6-8 hour drive could well be less stressful than a potentially 4-6 hour drive from DC to NYC mainly spent on the NJ Turnpike.
Outside the window? No. In the rear-view mirror? Yes.
Way, way south it’s not too bad.
Baltimore to DC in just under four hours? Depending on time of day, that seems about right.
very common and pretty easy as long as you stay away from rush hour times. you can go from new york to florida without hitting a traffic light. 95 will take you there and runs down the whole east cost, almost.
Pittsburgh to Philadelphia on the PA turnpike is 304 mi, 5 hours 34 mins
Whenever I run into a New Yorker commenting on how crappy New Jersey is, I always point out how its odd it is that NJ gets nicer and nicer the further away from NYC you go. 
Growing up in the Northeast, distances and driving times seem psychologically longer than they are in the Midwest and Northeast. Buffalo and Rochester are 60 miles apart, literally an hour from downtown to downtown, but the drive between the two seems excruciatingly long. Most people I know in Buffalo spent very little time in Rochester, and vice versa. Very few people commute between the two cities.
When I lived in Denver, though, people thought nothing of a two to three hour drive every Saturday or Sunday to some ski resort. Considering the time involved in driving between … oh, Denver and Vail (two hours in free flowing traffic, three on weekends), that’s like a trip between Buffalo and Cleveland, or Buffalo to Toronto and back. While the hour drive between Buffalo and Rochester was considered uncomfortably long, Denver to Colorado Springs or Fort Collins is seen as no big deal.
Basically, the perception of what’s “oh my God, that’s so far away” is much closer in the Northeast than elsewhere.
(is this thread officially zombified yet?)
I love the coastal route. There’s actually more than this. From Lewes, Delaware, you can drive onto the ferry to Cape May, New Jersey and see the actual “Garden” part of the Garden State. The Garden State Parkway can take you further north toward NYC and you can get off and go to the NJ seaside communities.
Some of the coastal route hugs the shore fairly tightly, and there are points where you can actually see the water from the road. Southern Delaware is (perhaps surprisingly) still rural to some degree and you may end up passing actual farms on the way, depending on what route you select between Virginia’s Eastern Shore and Lewes, Delaware. Remember to stop by Chincoteague and Assateague in VA if you like horses or areas mentioned in classic childrens’ literature.
Also, if you like the route that 95 takes but want different scenery, try US 1. Route 1 hugs I-95 fairly closely for most of the East Coast, but it passes straight through lots of little towns or the central business/historic districts of once-small towns swallowed by suburbia that you wouldn’t see from 95 unless you got off at the exit for the town.
So, in a sense, there are three routes in the mid-Atlantic area - the coastal route (NYC -> Cape May -> Lewes -> Eastern Shore -> Virginia Beach -> Outer Banks), the 95 corridor of venerable honor and it’s close companion Route 1, and the western route inside or on the border of Appalachia (I-81 and ilk)