We are from NJ too. We take cape may lewes ferry then bay bridge tunnel then drive to emporia,va and 95. can sleep on ferry for an housr and a half. worth the money to avoid the crowd at baltimore/washington

other way is to go through baltimore/washington early on a sunday morning by this i mean before 10am. we have found that this avoids the crowds too.

Traffic going to the eastern shore is only really bad on a Friday afternoon in the summer. I've never had any problems on I-97, you'll be exiting about 15 miles before Annapolis anyway, so the Bay Bridge traffic isn't that far out. If it's late in the day you may get commuters going home from Baltimore to Annapolis. I generally leave in the morning so I'm going south when commuters are going in the opposite direction into Baltimore or Washington.

In the morning from about 7am to 9am you'll have a lot of traffic going south on I-95 from the northern suburbs into Baltimore. The Route 24 Bel Air exit is two exits after Cal Ripkens Stadiium. That's where the commuting starts to pick up, if you pass that area after 9am you shouldn't have any problem. I use to live off of Route 24 for 13 years.

I think it would be less miles overall because your paralleling the interstate and not going as far west. You'll lose time not because of a greater distance but because of the slower traffic speed vs the interstate speed.

You have to have a vehicle, they even accept motorcycles. One train leaves each station in opposite directions everyday at the same time, 4pm in the afternoon from Sanford, Florida and Lorton, VA and arrive about 9:30am the next morning. So when that one train is booked, that day is closed. The train I rode two years ago the conductor got on the PA and made an announcement that we had set a record. Our train was over 4,000 feet long, I forget the exact length, had 450 passengers, 205 cars and 2 motorcycles. I'm sure that record has been broken since.

We used the Autotrain going home to Baltimore in 2011 after our LSV, it was in April and was $804 with 2 adults with one car one-way. Now that we live in TV, this August 20th we are going back north for a couple of weeks and it's only $750 round-trip for two adults and one car. As yo can see it's a big difference in price between April and August. I figured a round-trip would be two nights in motel, 60 gallons of gas, that's 30 gallons each way plus lunch, dinner and breakfast each way and 1800 miles on my 2013 car that won't be going on the odometer. I figure $750 is about break-even and I don't have to do any work, just sit and look out the window.


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thanx, john, good to know! will file in the travel folder for the future. we try very hard to avoid travelling south in the summer [to family in the carolinas] because of travellers to points such as williamsburg, kings dominion, the eastern shore, etc! and besides - we love our jersey shore - even in the summer with all of the beach birds [tourists]! it's kinda like the villages at high season! ;)

Another way south from NJ is Garden State Pkwy to Cape May - ferry - Lewes DE then Rt 1 along coast road to Ocean City MD then RT 90 or Rt 50 west to Rt 113 then south to join Rt 13 south all the way across the CBBT @ Norfolk then I-64 around southside to join Rt 58 west to Emporia and back on I-95. From OC MD to Emporia is abt 200 miles. Mostly 4 lane all the way. Alternate to the beach road is to take Rt 9 from the ferry to Rt 13 south. All this may sound complicated but it works well to totally avoid Philly-Baltimore-DC hassle.

Does anyone think taking 13 from Delaware to Norfolk VA and then back to I-95 would make sense? Trying to avoid the construction and traffic jams.

13 or the bypass is tough through Delaware. Traffic lights and changing speeds make you an easy target for local police and your GPS can't keep up. (somewhat like parts of 301 as discussed in other threads) Going early may avoid traffic, just be forewarned.

What is the Autotrain? Do you know if I can get it in Massachusetts to Florida? I never heard of it, so I'm guessing the answer is no.

you are correct that you cannot catch it from mass...but you could pick it up in lorton, va.

here's the website for more info:
Auto Train Transports You and Your Car - Lorton, VA - Sanford, FL | Amtrak

Good post