now before you say Let Me Google Map That For You, just read the question
About once or twice a year we travel from North Carolina to visit our good friends in New Canaan CT.
A few times when traffic looked promising we followed google maps or gps advice to cross Manhattan at the George Washington Bridge and head to Connecticut through the Bronx. This has always been a bad idea and left us with regret.
Our friends say No No No, cross at the Tappan Zee Bridge, it seems longer but it takes less time. So for the past few years that is what we have done and it’s always been great.
A local friend recently traveled up that way and said she got stuck in terrible traffic on the Tappan Zee because they are building a second bridge there.
So…do you think it’s better at this time to go the George Washington Bridge route? take the Tappan Zee anyway? some secret local route?
Feel free to recommend traffic avoiding apps. We’re lucky enough to live with reasonable traffic so may be behind the times when it comes to new technology for coping with it.
I have also emailed the question to my friends, but they mostly stay in Connecticut and may not have the most up to date intelligence.
Thanks for your valuable on the ground information!
P.S. We are traveling tomorrow and can expect to hit New York City about 1pm.
It’s been a couple of years since I lived in the area, but I would suggest listening to 1010 WINS on the AM dial when you get close to the city. They have a traffic report on the 1s (1, 11, 21, 31, etc minutes after the hour). If it sounds like the GWB is not backed up, go that way. The Waze app might also be a good way to judge which way is best.
In any case, it always pick your poison. Any of the crossings can back up, just try to choose the best option.
Your only choices are the George Washington or the Tappan Zee for the most part. The GW is always under construction too. I’ve used the Tappan Zee recently and there’s been no issue due to the new bridge being built. They won’t be touching the current Tappan Zee until at least one side of the new bridge is made so I don’t know how construction could have even done anything to traffic. Rubbernecking is not an issue. People have always slowed down on the bridge in general, even before the new bridge started.
The George Washington will always cost more than the Tappan Zee, too. I have never had a good experience using the GW.
Please note that no matter effin’ what, there’s traffic EVERYWHERE in New England, for absolutely no reason other than there’s too many cars here. And every year it seems worse. I feel like I cannot go anywhere now without traffic adding significantly to my time. The only times I feel like I have a chance to get somewhere without traffic is between 11 pm and 4 am. Otherwise I have to resign myself to the inevitable.
EDIT: 1 - 2 pm seems like a decent enough time to arrive at the Tappan Zee. For reference, everyone commutes to NYC in the morning and leaves in the afternoon. Which means? In the morning, eastbound Tappan Zee is at a standstill and in the afternoon westbound Tappan Zee is as a standstill. So you’ll be going opposite.
I agree with this, except my go-to news station in the New York area is WCBS, 880 AM. They do traffic on the eights. I wouldn’t necessarily rely on the advice of the friend who recently made the trip, as the congestion she experienced might have been a one-time thing. (Perhaps there was an accident, or whatever.)
The GW Bridge requires you go on the Cross Bronx Expressway, a candidate for the worst highway in America. It’s narrow with its claustrophobic walls and little or no shoulder and with a high volume of traffic. One breakdown and it turns from scary to stopped dead for hours.
Once I found other routes, I’ve avoided the Cross Bronx for over 35 years (I drive down to LI to visit my family).
The work on the Tappan Zee is slowing things down, but it will never be as bad a problem on the Cross Bronx. Looking at Google Traffic right now, the TZ does have some slow traffic near the tolls heading east. But the Cross Bronx looks even worse – all red for twice the distance you see red on the TZ. And I expect it’s usually that way.
You could go further north to the Bear Mountain or Newburgh-Beacon Bridges, but they won’t save you much time.
When I crossed the GWB going toward Connecticut, I didn’t stay on the Cross Bronx for long. I would take 87 north to the Cross County Expressway, then the Hutchinson Parkway which turns into the Merritt Parkway. Not saying that those are going to be traffic free, but fear of the Cross Bronx shouldn’t be that big of a deal.
Yes, I totally forgot that since you are continuing across Westchester County you have the trouble of joining all the traffic on the other side that’s leaving NYC to travel east, back to their homes in CT. Make sure that you are on the Merritt or 95 before 4pm and maybe you’ll manage to get past Stamford without coming to a standstill. I prefer the Merritt to get to New Canaan personally but I consider both the Merritt and 95 equally dangerous if that’s something you take into account.
Merritt doesn’t allow trucks and is regarded as one of the most beautiful highways in America.
I generally take the Palisades Parkway (9W) along the banks of the Hudson River and then cross at the Tappan Zee. It may be a few miles out of your way, but there’s less traffic than 95 and the GW and it’s very scenic.
Oh yes, but everyone on it tries to drive 20mph over the posted speed limit on a very narrow and twisty road with no paved shoulders and inadequate barriers. When I drove it to get to work I saw at least one accident every day. It’s pretty, but not safe by any stretch of the imagination. Of course, 95 isn’t better, having a high accident and fatality rate itself. Is it still considered one of USA’s death highways? Not sure, probably.
Of course, the Merritt doesn’t allow trucks but that doesn’t stop one from getting on every year and shearing its top off at one of the overpasses.
I like the 1010 WINS traffic reports much better than the 880 WCBS ones. 1010 can be counted on to report on almost every bridge and tunnel, 880 does not reliably do so.
I take the Tap no matter what Google or Waze say. They can’t predict the traffic jam that’s constantly just a moment away at all times on the GW or CB. That said, I’ve been stuck stand-still on the Tap for over 2 hours once, so there are no guarantees, just probabilities.
You know I always sort of joked about the “one truck a year” thing on the Merritt but it pretty much appears to be true now that I google search it properly. Last year it was a butter truck that subsequently caught fire. (I’ve seen more than one car on fire on the Merritt. It just seems to do that to vehicles.)
I almost always take the George and the Cross Bronx when I’m heading up that way. They often move very quickly, and the Cross Bronx is only a few miles long.
So, if it were me, I’d plan to take the George, listen to 1010 on the 1s and 880 on the 8s, and divert to the Tappan Zee if necessary.
(I always listen to both stations because hearing both descriptions is helpful in figuring out what’s really going on. But definitely heed Chaim’s warning - just because one report doesn’t mention something doesn’t mean it’s not a trouble spot.)
Trip finished, there and back again! Starting point: Durham, NC.
Just wanted to say thanks, I really appreciate everyone’s input and it was all considered.
In the end the Waze app, as so many said, was the most helpful. It gave the advice to take the George Washington Bridge coming and going, with weird local traffic dodges through Westchester and the Bronx that I never would have been brave enough to attempt without familiarity with the roads.
Not only was the Tappan Zee always slow traffic, so was the Garden State Parkway, so even though there was some heavy traffic on the George Washington Bridge, I think we saved time overall.
I cross referenced Waze with Google Maps, whose traffic view was much easier for me to read than Waze’s.
I LOVE Waze’s pop up traffic jam progress bar that shows how far you have proceeded through the traffic jam and estimates how much longer you have to suffer.
Also there is a great joy in noticing a hidden cop on the other side of the road and reporting it to alert other users!
I’ve done Fayetteville to Mass. and various New England sites to NJ. To be frank I usually go a little west of NYC and clip PA. Not that much more time in my experience and less stress.
But reading the results maybe next time I’ll get brave.