Towing through New York City

[Dave5143]

I've towed my trailer up and down the mountains of Colorado and California. I've gone up Interstate 5 up California (horrible road surface). I've been stuck in Seattle traffic tie-ups. I've towed in rain and high winds without getting blown out of my lane. A few anxious moments but nothing truly frightening.
My next trip involves towing my travel trailer from Jersey City to Boston over I-95. This involves driving across the George Washington Bridge and over the Cross-Bronx Expressway. Frankly, that scares the **** out of me. What a maze! I'm afraid I'll miss a key exit and wind up on some sketchy surface street without a clue of what to do next.
Am I being being overly terrified or should I just be mildly concerned?
Any tips of what to watch for to make sure I'm in the optimum lane(s) to get through New York City without experiencing any white knuckle experiences?

[dcason]

NY thruway to mass pike will be much more enjoyable.

[Crowe]

Actually... I95 traffic is bad going east/north basically until you hit mid-Maine...lol!

Soooooo true! LOL! I've driven that route more times than I can count. And if a random moose happens along it can slow down in mid-Maine!

[Dave5143]

Lumpty wrote:
Funny sidebar story about GWB tolls, back about 20 years ago when they were merely expensive and not requiring emptying your life savings in one passage, about a trip I made up to the Boston area. I was towing a street licensed car on an open trailer. Both that car, and the tow vehicle, had EZPass transponders. Went through the EZPass lanes, figuring that the system would count axles and ding me accordingly.

But what it did, and this included the tolled Mass Pike portion of the trip, was read the truck as one vehicle and the trailer axles as another car following, via the transponder in the windshield of the car being towed. So I only ended up paying the two car tolls, instead of the at least 3x tow vehicle-trailer one. A bit of an oopsie that worked out to be about $20 to my advantage, discovered when I received my account statement and both transponders were showing sequential tolling all the way through that trip. I'm sure there was something about it I could have been fined for, but after 20 years the Statute of Limitations has hopefully passed.

Interesting story. Makes me wonder what would happen if I had a transponder in the truck and stuck a second transponder on the front of my travel trailer. Not that I would ever do anything illegal.

[NYFifth]

My two cents.... Avoid NYC entirely. Didn’t catch what your pulling, but regardless, whether TT, 5th, Class A or C, avoid NYC.

If traveling towards Boston, take 81 to 84 and travel over Newburg/Beacon bridge. Stay on 84 and connect with the interstate (forget which one) to Boston. Yeah, it may add a few miles and add a bit of time (with traffic in NYC, that is debatable), but it won’t take years out of your life.

Love NYC, and I never mind driving in a car, but pulling any rig???? Fagetaboutit.......

[Tvov]

Lumpty wrote:
I-95 is frequently full of traffic until east of New Haven. I have several friends that live in Fairfield County. It can take an hour to go 10 miles at anytime of day.

Actually... I95 traffic is bad going east/north basically until you hit mid-Maine... lol! Really, past New Haven it can be randomly bumper to bumper all through the rest of Connecticut.

I have towed our camper a few times through NYC, although we always take the Tappanzee whenever we can.

It isn't the end of the world going I95 through NYC. Biggest issue is traffic, just be ready for realllllyyyy slooowww going. Then, the once every 31 years that you hit no traffic, your truck and camper will be blown apart by the bumps / frost heaves / pot holes if you go over 35mph (heavy traffic helps prevent this! lol!).

So... yea... avoid I95....

[Lumpty]

Funny sidebar story about GWB tolls, back about 20 years ago when they were merely expensive and not requiring emptying your life savings in one passage, about a trip I made up to the Boston area. I was towing a street licensed car on an open trailer. Both that car, and the tow vehicle, had EZPass transponders. Went through the EZPass lanes, figuring that the system would count axles and ding me accordingly.

But what it did, and this included the tolled Mass Pike portion of the trip, was read the truck as one vehicle and the trailer axles as another car following, via the transponder in the windshield of the car being towed. So I only ended up paying the two car tolls, instead of the at least 3x tow vehicle-trailer one. A bit of an oopsie that worked out to be about $20 to my advantage, discovered when I received my account statement and both transponders were showing sequential tolling all the way through that trip. I'm sure there was something about it I could have been fined for, but after 20 years the Statute of Limitations has hopefully passed.

[mkc]

Do be careful if you take the Tappan Zee eastbound and are following a GPS. Do NOT get on the Saw Mill River Parkway to 684 - you're not allowed and you won't fit under the overpasses.

Personally, even in a passenger car we prefer 287-87-84. Yes, 87 has a toll, but it's a much lower stress route and really not much further, distance-wise. It can often be faster.

[camperfamily]

Just my thoughts, but watch the GSP up north, there are some low overpasses.

A couple different suggestions. Get yourself to 287 north, avoiding the GSP. From there you can either:
A. continue on 287 and over the Cuomo bridge to 84 and through Connecticut.
B. Take 287 N to 87N. Now you can either pick up 84 at Newburg NY OR continue straight up 87 until you get to 90 east (Mass Pike).

Why you ask? I've sat through many very long gridlocks in CT, on horrific roads. The longer route is, IMO worth it. Good roads, far less congestion. And I get to my destination much less tired and stressed. Getting out of Jersey City would be the hardest part.

Under no circumstance would I travel through NYC with my RV when there are other options. The toll to cross the GWB alone is mind-numbing.

Happy Trails.

[Campincarters]

You will be fine. I live in CT between 84 and 95. I go over Tappen Zee Cuomo Bridge BUT I have take 287 north to 87 north to go over the Newburgh bridge on 84. I will tell you from the Tappen Zee to 95 it is about 11 miles.

[RGar974417]

Many years ago I pulled our pop up through NYC. Never again.

[Dave5143]

Crowe wrote:
I'd take Lumpty's route. Have done that many times and yes, some of the CT cities are a PITA but are preferable to NYC any day.

Ignore the people who think you are making too much of this. You aren't. I have the utmost respect for people who admit they are squeamish in certain driving situations. You aren't weak-you are pragmatic. I lived within 30 miles of Boston for the first 57 years of my life and learned to drive in and around the city. I'll tackle just about anywhere but unless I had no other choice I would avoid NYC.

Thanks, I have decided to go with Lumpty's suggestion since I don't need to actually be in NYC. It's one of those times when Google Maps is not my friend.
Since I'll be traveling on a Sunday during mid-day I'll take the risk of going through Hartford on I84 since that's the most direct route to Foxboro where the RV Park is located.
Thank you everybody for your valuable suggestions/comments.

[Nschreiver]

So we've been taking campers for years over NYC. It is not for the faint of heart. I do agree with all of the other routes. We live in NH and often travel to Maryland to Assateague island with our camper. That said on the way there we drive at night coming they NYC between 3 and 6 in the morning be depending on when we get out the door. If we have to drive during the day we drive the routes the others are mentioning or we even at times go up as far as Albany and either grab 90 back down or we deliver my mother to her home in western Mass thru the back hills of the Berkshire's and then take route 2 and 91. As my mother at times will go with us camping. But if it's daytime we avoid GW all together if we can. 

[K_Charles]

We just drove down 91 to 95 and over the GW today and paid 30 something bucks when we got off the NJ turnpike. We only spent about 1/2 hr of stop and go, it wasn't bad.

[Yosemite_Sam1]

I had a business trip to New York and took a self-driving car rental. I returned it the same morning as I'm scared I might die early or kill somebody if I proceed.

And I'm used to LA killer driving conditions.

Yeah, take an alternate route even if longer.