Going to Richmond VA, Driving advise needed

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’ll be driving to Richmond VA with my parents on Friday. We are hoping to avoid the traffic backups that we encountered in the DC area.

We have directions that want us to

Merge onto NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE S toward DELAWARE (Portions toll). 34.5 miles
NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE S becomes I-295 S (Portions toll) (Crossing into DELAWARE). 5.5 miles
Merge onto I-95 S via the exit on the LEFT (Portions toll) (Crossing into MARYLAND). 93.9 miles
Merge onto I-495 W / CAPITAL BELTWAY via EXIT 27 toward SILVER SPRING (Crossing into VIRGINIA). 30.1 miles
Merge onto I-95 S via EXIT 57A toward RICHMOND. 86.4 miles
Take the I-295 exit- EXIT 84B- toward CHARLOTTESVILLE.
Any traffic surprises we should watch out for?

2

I can’t really speak for much else but watch out for the Capital Beltway at rush hour. In DC on a friday it will start at 3 and go until about 7

3

Yes the beltway is what killed us last time. If there was a way to avoid it that would be great

4

Where in Richmond are you going? Perhaps we can arrange a micro-Dopefest.

5

Richmond area Dopers - what do you think of taking DC Beltway to Maryland 301 exit, then 301 south over the Harry Nice Bridge and onward to Richmond. It’s been years since I did this, and that was coming from just south of Richmond to Maryland. (I know I’m missing some steps in the route, but it’s been a long time.)

It’s off the interstate, and on state/local roads, therefore potentially slower. But it avoids the Woodrow Wilson Bridge (new bridge - same old width, and therefore only slightly improved traffic jams), the Springfield Interchange (currently under construction, and crowded at the best of times) and I-95 South (a crawling parking lot south of Springfield in the evenings). It doesn’t avoid the whole beltway, but does avoid some of the worst parts.

Thoughts? Opinons?

Other hints: DC Friday rush hour starts at 3:30 or even 3, and can go on past 7. No kidding! Get good local maps if you can, and be prepared to use alternate routes. I listen to WTOP (103.5 FM) - they have traffic reports every 10 minutes on the 8s (8, 18, 28, 38, etc. after the hour). Listen to a couple of traffic reports - Murphy’s law means one report will miss talking about the jam that’s on your route.

If you take the Wilson Bridge, the new Bridge is pretty steep. Keep up your speed, but watch out for people around you slowing down. The Bridge is still under construction, and the Beltway zigs and zags around the Bridge. Do NOT push the speed limit - particularly on the Virginia side of the Bridge.

If you take the Springfield Interchange (Beltway = I95 & I495 with I395 north into DC and I95 south to Richmond), watch the signs. The new interchange is partially complete, and a huge improvement, but there is still construction, and the interchange is very complex.

Sometimes in DC traffic the best thing is to bail off the Beltway and get dinner. Keep that in mind.

Have a great trip!

6

Coming south out of Wilmington DE on a Friday, you’ll hit a small tsunami of northern Marylanders who work in Philadelphia or Wilmington. Take the exit for Delaware 273 towards Newark and then take the exit for DE-2 / Christiana Highway West. Follow it past the University of Delaware Stadium, cross DE-896, drive another mile or so to a “T” and turn left onto Elkton Rd. Elkton Road turns into MD-279 just as you cross into Maryland, and then a ramp for I-95 will be on your right. You just saved $5.00 on tolls and 10+ minutes of waiting in line while people to get out of the E-Z-Pass lane.

Next up is Baltimore (welcome to bawlmer, hawn!). Both I-95 and I-895 skip Baltimore’s slightly-less-infamous Beltway, but I-95 has a nasty merge with it on the south end, and it can get nasty between 4:00 and 5:30 on Fridays. I-895 avoids this short jam… but it’s more crowded. Check 89.7 FM or 88.1 FM (NPR stations) for frequent traffic reports.

As for dealing with the D.C. Beltway, there’s no good way to get past D.C. on a Friday. Tune your radio to WTOP (103.5 FM / 820 AM) when you’re past Baltimore, keep a map handy, and listen closely. “Inner Loop” means traffic flowing[sup]1[/sup] clockwise around the city, “Outer Loop” means counterclockwise. The Wilson Bridge will be backed up, and getting through Northern Virginia traffic is enough to make a man build a homemade anti-tank weapon to deal with assholes in luxury SUVs. If you hit D.C. by 3pm, press your luck and make as much time south as you can, because it will only get worse. If you aren’t across the Wilson Bridge by 4:00pm, pull off and get a nice long dinner.

If you’re going to take US-301 (not a bad idea!) don’t take the Beltway at all: take MD-32 east and then either zig-zag onto I-97 south and US-50/US-301, or cut the corner and risk MD-3 onto US-301 south. It looks like a good route to me. My only caution is that US-301 has a median strip and lots of trees, so watch out for local cops.

  1. Edit: on Fridays, traffic does not “flow” around the city in either direction. How about “cars parked with their headlights pointed…” instead.
7

We are staying at the Richmond Marriott West. A Micro-dopefest sounds great but I don’t know how much free time I will have

8

Taking I-495W to the west of DC vs. staying on I-95 to the east of DC is almost a matter of “which traffic jam do you prefer?”

Start early, and try to reach DC around 2 in the afternoon.

9

It’s all about timing. You won’t want to leave earlier than 9 or 10-ish or you’ll hit the tail end of rush hour traffic going down 95. You don’t want to leave much later than that or you’ll end up in bad traffic in DC. If you time it right, you should be able to sail through Baltimore and DC without too many hassles.

My experience with alternate routes around DC is that once the main roads in DC get backed up, everyone else is trying the alternate routes as well, so it’s basically like Ben said, which traffic jam do you prefer? The only really good way through DC is to get through it before the traffic jams start.

10

As everyone has pointed out, if you hit the DC Beltway on Friday during evening rush hour the traffic will be bad. The traffic jam will continue as you go south on 95 from DC.

Try to hit DC at or before noon and you can make good time either way you go around the Beltway. But listen to 103.5 FM (WTOP) as Typo King said. WTOP is all news and has traffic on the eights. If you end up getting to DC at 4:00 PM or so, be ready for several hours of slow traffic. The heavy traffic will continue until 7 or 8 PM.

11

My best friend lives in south NJ and regularly drives down to Southern MD. She usually takes the route Jurph describes. I lived in Richmond for years and used to regularly drive up to visit family in Southern MD. I can’t speak too much about 301 north of Waldorf, MD (which is about 45 min south of DC) but from Waldorf to Richmond, 301 is a nice route to take. It isn’t nearly as busy and it’s very beautiful (to me anyway). The cops aren’t too bad, you can drive at a nice clip as long as you aren’t being crazy about it. I would take 301 to Bowling Green and then get on to 95 south there.

What time are you planing to leave NJ? If you leave at about 10 am you would miss rush hour pretty much everywhere except Richmond, but if I remember correctly, rush hour there isn’t bad at all (at least compared to DC/NOVA).

12

We were planning on leaving around 8:30

13

So, MannyL, how was the drive? Did you take advantage of any of our suggestions? You said you were planning on leaving early enough that the tricks we suggested may not have been necessary.

14

I wonder if he hit any of the snow and ice that is currently paralyzing our region (and keeping me home from work :smiley: )