We just drove down last week with great results, from central mass. We have done several different routes, as well as straight through twice. The western route (77, 81) is longer and avoids DC and NY, but has fewer three lane miles, which is key to making good time with lots of trucks. In wintertime, the western route has more of a chance of higher elevation weather. Its easy to avoid 95 through NYC with the Mario Cuomo bridge to the palisades or garden state parkways back to NJ turnpike, as the turnpike has many lanes, though narrows to two near the Delaware memorial bridge.

We avoid most of Baltimore/DC traffic by going 301 through Delaware, which has very little traffic but very few services, to Cheasapeake Bay bridge to 495 back to 95 South. The section of 95 South from 495, DC, to Fredericksburg VA has construction, and can be extremely slow with traffic, and this time in december is the only time the slow was about 5 miles. The Cheasapeake bridge / tunnel is fun, but the route from norfolk back to 95 has too many lights.

We try to leave as early in the morning as possible. 4AM for us works as we can be early morning people and prefer to drive in sunlight near the end of the day's drive when driving can get monotonous, and we get tired A good first days' drive gets us to Florence SC by 6 pm though we have family exactly 1/2 down on the VA/NC border so we visit with them for an evening.

Leaving on a Friday when most people who can work from home are working from home is best weekday, Monday through Thursday not so much for the weekday meetings which the WFH crowd has to attend. . . Weekends are better in winter, not so much in the summer when everyone has the same idea for that one+ week vacation starting with a rental on Sunday and returning home on a Saturday.

Get an EZ pass and you will be saving money on tolls, and not have to slow down for them. Use Waze or Google maps for local suggestions, and remember, one idiot driver can make a mess of your time and plans. We lost an hour going north last july for a class 1 camper into the woods, lost an hour south this time looking for on highway diesel in Delaware (also idiot driver), which is why we don't book a room until we are fairly certain of our arrival time, like within 2 hours of ending for the day.

Good luck,

I agree with avoiding DC AND Fredericksburg which as also is very congested. 301 is a good alternative using the DelMAr peninsula for some of the route. if you leave at 5AM you should be able to get to southern VA or even northern NC by early evening. Of course the weather is the wildcard this time of year as well as a lot of other people on the road traveling for Christmas

New England to Fla....
 

Go thru Pa....I-84 to I-81.....take Rte 17 in Va to I-95,,,,,best rte Ive taken for over 10 years,,,,avoid traffic....leave any time....:welcome:

I-95S to Tappen Zee bridge
I-287 to I-78W to I-81 S
I-77 S in Charlotte
I-26 E to I-95 S
I-295 S to I-10 W to US 301 S

As you can see, lot's of alternatives.
Bottlenecks are NYC, Delaware bridge, and DC.
For many years we avoid that and NYC via Tappen Zee bridge , then to Harriburg, PA, down RT15 to pick up I95 South of DC.

Any current reports on construction related traffic from people recently making the drive would be much appreciated. Specifically, between Fredericksburg, VA and Santee, SC on 95 south, or alternatively on the 77 to 26 route to 95 south. Our packing pile is growing large and we will be loading up the truck and heading south shortly, can’t wait :) Trying to decide which route to take on this trip to cut east to 95 from 81. Thanks.

You're much better off calling AAA. As you can see if you ask 10 people you'll get 10 different answers. GOOD LUCK!!!

Auto Train
 

You can pick up the Auto Train at Lorton, VA (just south of DC) off 95. You put your car on the train and then relax inside for the trip to Orlando. Then it's just an hour to The Villages.

We didn't find any issue between Fredericksburg, VA and Santee, SC on 95 10 days ago. . though there were occassional issues on the other side :icon_wink: could be your side this time :shocked:

weekends might be better as there is less vacation travel at the moment and lots of local traffic

Thanks, good information. We are leaving on a Saturday, weather permitting (New Year’s Day). That should be both a very slow traffic day as well as a day with little to no construction. The only problem with that schedule is that I am going to have to figure out how I can stream the radio broadcast of the Patriots game on Sunday while driving. I can probably count on one hand the number of Patriots games I have missed since the early 70’s. Oh well, they are playing Jacksonville so it projects as a relatively easy win, hopefully not a trap game?

Actually on that part of the trip, I’d go one better. The second exit off I-95 after crossing the border from Georgia into Florida is Route 200. Take it West/South (a right hand turn off I-95) and it turns into Route 301. Follow 301 South, then just South of Ocala bear right unto 441 and come straight down to the Villages. Easy route that completely avoids Jacksonville and I-10. :coolsmiley:

Not if you travel with a dog.

To get through the DC nightmare we would take US I95 to US I895 thru Harbor Tunnel to Maryland Rte 295 to US I295 to US I495 to IS I95 south. Pretty clear sailing from there.

295 is the BW Parkway. It parallels I-95 and only puts you on 495 a few miles SE of I-95...

Problem is, it's only 2 lanes and it can get locked down in a heartbeat...

Thanks for all the options. The reason I am leaving at 5PM is I have to work that day (from home) and plan on driving 10 hours or whenever I get tired I’ll stop for a quick nap. I’m driving down because I need to bring a bunch of stuff with me and plan on driving around FL to do some sightseeing and kayaking….rentals for a month or 2 would be outrageous. I’m guessing I’ll be dealing with heavy traffic for most of the trip due to the holiday. I plan on using Waze for GPS and traffic but also keep Apple/Google maps on also. I’m guessing I’ll stop somewhere in VA for a nap but hoping to make the NC border but that’s highly doubtful. Wish me luck and have a nice Christmas.