Best Route Around NYC
We're heading from Des Moines to New England in September to see the Fall Colors then we head south to Florida. What is the best route to take going south from Boston around New York, Philadelpha and DC.
Forum Discussion
- All about the trade offs I- 287, can be pretty a pretty busy road.
jplante4 wrote:
Yup, 81 out of Scranton is terrible. I'd do 87 to 287 to either 78 or 80 to pick up 81 S in Harrisburg.
X2 .. I did this route this past June and it was far better than I-84 to I-81. The only issue was I-78 in PA ... the road was horrible, bumpy, poor repairs and patching. I experienced the same on I-81 from Harrisburg to Carlisle PA ... rough roads forced me down to 45-50mph.- Yup, 81 out of Scranton is terrible. I'd do 87 to 287 to either 78 or 80 to pick up 81 S in Harrisburg.
- Lots of choices depending on where in New England you wind up. Also remember to check campgrounds on season closing dates. Usually in October but depends.
NY State has lots of fall color. If you cross into NY from Vermont you can catch the Northway I-87 south to Albany and head east on I -88 west to Binghampton then south on I-81 to points south....
I 88 is lightly traveled by interstate standards and is pretty much rural. You can also come across Mass. on I 90 to Albany and pick up I-88 west to i-81 south. - That is the way I go too. The southbound path from I84 to I81 in Scranton is kind of sucky. It funnels too many lanes down to quickly and I've never gone through when I didn't have traffic and lots of merging lane changes. Some construction southbound, maybe an hour total of delay as of two weeks ago. I actually take I81 to I77 to I 26 to I95, it's the theoretically shortest route and I happen to like the drop down from Flat Top WV.
Brian - Pickup I 90 in New England to I 84 west to I 380 west to I 81 south at Scranton, PA I 81 south to Va.... pick up 17 south to Fredericksburg, VA then I 95 to Fla. It is more miles but you miss NYC, Baltimore, Philly area and DC all the tolls and all the congestion.
