I will be traveling up the New Jersey Turnpike tomorrow and will arrive in the NYC area around noon. I’m thinking the George Washington bridge traffic will be pretty bad, because I’ve done this once before. I am considering getting onto the Bruckner Expressway (I-278) near Elizabeth NJ, going thru Staten Island, and then hooking up again with I-95 above New York City. Opinions? How about going thru either the Holland or Lincoln tunnels, or even going north to the Tappen Zee and then heading east? Thank for any advice.
If you’re going across the GW in the very middle of the day, you might have a chance, though the whole Friday in August thing may make even that hopeless. I usually just do the Tappan Zee when I’m going around the City, or even up to I-84 depending on where I want to end up.
Thing is that 84 doesn’t go to Providence, and going on Rt 6 from Hartford to Providence is not fun - two lanes in some places.
I’ve been driving a lot between RI and State College, PA thanks to a long distance relationship, so I have some experience with this.
How close to NYC will you be? Any way you can get over to I- 287 North in New Jersey and avoid the city itself altogether? Or hop over to the Garden State and take it up to 287.
All of this is to get you towards the Tappen Zee, which 38 years of experience as a Rhode Islander with NJ relatives has proven to be the way to go. My current rule of thumb is that it is 3 hours to Providence from the NY/NJ border on I-287.
Once across the TZ, I-95 through Connecticut can be its own brand of hell, especially around Stamford, so the Merritt Parkway can be useful.
I’ve also traveled this route about a zillion times. I think you’re mixed up about where the Bruckner is. Whatever you do, DON’T do the Staten Island thing.
Anyway…I’d personally take the Turnpike (95) straight to the George, across the Cross Bronx, and then continue on 95 into Connecticut. I find that more direct is better. Even if it’s slow, it’s not that many miles to cover. But the Tappan Zee is a good option also. Don’t worry that much about completely avoiding the city.
But here’s the important thing:
Listen to 1010 WINS AM for traffic on the ones (i.e. at 2:01, 2:11, 2:21, etc.)
Listen to 880 CBS AM for traffic on the eights.
Listen to them both. Sometimes they’ll say the same things, but other times only one will be reporting something relevant. They won’t report the usual slow traffic, but if there are major delays at the George or something, they’ll say so and you can take an alternate route.