Massachusetts to east coast florida

tropical36 wrote:

Wrong Lane wrote:
Tropical 36

I note the route you recommend uses Route 15 (Merritt Parkway) through CT. When I was researching routes south I found that some sections of 15 are closed to oversized vehicles and have an 8 foot height restriction due to low overpasses.

Here's what I found:

"Vehicles over 2.5 meters (eight feet) in height, weighing more than 3,650 kilograms (four tons), towing a trailer, or containing more than four wheels are not allowed on the Merritt parkway."

I am planning a trip from my home, just north of Maine to Florida and google maps always puts me on Route 15 in CT.

My rig is about the same size as yours. I always trust first hand experience over internet info, so my question is??

Is Route 15 (Merritt Parkway) through CT ok for a 12 foot high rig? Have you travelled it without mishap or trouble from law enforcement?

Thanks

If I gave a route recommendation that included CT15, the Merritt Parkway, it was in error, as I made that mistake not long ago and should have checked it out prior.
No wonder people were blowing horns and waving at me and a good thing I got off when I did with a 10ft bridge coming up after the exit. Thought I'd never find I95 again with trying to worm my way through some small town. Never so happy to then again turn off towards White Plains NY for going around NY city and then west to WV and beyond. Not that our coach likes Appalachia all that much either and find it worse than the Rockies in many cases.

This is what happened to me too on the Bronx Highway, people where blowing their horns and I was wondering why, soon found out the 9 ft overpass that scared the hell out of me.

SC Road Closure shows I-95 closed from Mile 84-162 due to flooding. Some is open to local traffic but no thru traffic. I was routed off of North bound I-95 onto I-26 detour yesterday (10/6)

http://dbw.scdot.org/roadconditions2/u

ferndaleflyer wrote:
Is I 95 open yet after the floods? Over 100 roads and bridges closed to traffic in SC as of today and I 95 was one of them. I was told the detour took around 8 hours. WOW!

There is still water flowing to the coast. I would not trust any of the bridges on I 95 until they have time to inspect the footings. I will gladly drive 8 hours out of the way to avoid the risk. Have seen one too many bridges fail over the years with traffic on them. Besides the inland routes are prettier :)

Just looked at SCDOT and there appear to be no closures - my concern about the bridges holds. I would stay away.

Wrong Lane wrote:
Tropical 36

I note the route you recommend uses Route 15 (Merritt Parkway) through CT. When I was researching routes south I found that some sections of 15 are closed to oversized vehicles and have an 8 foot height restriction due to low overpasses.

Here's what I found:

"Vehicles over 2.5 meters (eight feet) in height, weighing more than 3,650 kilograms (four tons), towing a trailer, or containing more than four wheels are not allowed on the Merritt parkway."

I am planning a trip from my home, just north of Maine to Florida and google maps always puts me on Route 15 in CT.

My rig is about the same size as yours. I always trust first hand experience over internet info, so my question is??

Is Route 15 (Merritt Parkway) through CT ok for a 12 foot high rig? Have you travelled it without mishap or trouble from law enforcement?

Thanks

If I gave a route recommendation that included CT15, the Merritt Parkway, it was in error, as I made that mistake not long ago and should have checked it out prior.
No wonder people were blowing horns and waving at me and a good thing I got off when I did with a 10ft bridge coming up after the exit. Thought I'd never find I95 again with trying to worm my way through some small town. Never so happy to then again turn off towards White Plains NY for going around NY city and then west to WV and beyond. Not that our coach likes Appalachia all that much either and find it worse than the Rockies in many cases.

Is I 95 open yet after the floods? Over 100 roads and bridges closed to traffic in SC as of today and I 95 was one of them. I was told the detour took around 8 hours. WOW!

I will be making this same trip in July so it is great to see all the posts.

One thing I like about going on 95 is no hill and after Washington, no big town to slow you down.

But I might give 77 a try if the wheather is nice.

The trick to getting out of the northeast is to get out of the highly populated areas and use the best roads. I have driven truck all over the east before I retired and just some of my musings... From central Mass I would go east on 90 to 87 south. 84 is bad, shorter but bad shape. 87 to 287 south then 78 west to 81 south to 77 south. This takes you over the the Blue Ridge at Fancy Gap so watch the weather there. Once down into North Carolina weather gets better and go through Charlotte before 6 AM or be prepared for 40 miles of stop and go traffic. At Columbia, S.C. take 26 east to 95 south and go. I always go straight through Jacksonville only because it saves 26 miles. 95 is famous for stoppages for no apparent reason, just be patient and have a good time.

Some years ago, I went to the Good Sam site to get a "directions" map to a destination in New York State.
Knowing some of the roads in that area, I was surprised when the Good Sam information included the Merritt Pkway.

I called GS on the phone to let them know that altho their mapping said something like RV friendly routes, there was a height restriction that would get somebody in real trouble. The response was "we're working on that." Hope they did.

We traveled to Disney several times and found the best route (traffic, tolls) to be: Route to Disney
I-90 W to I-84 W to I-684 S to I-287 W to 287 S/87 N to I-287 S to 78 to 81 to 77 to 26 to 95 to 4 to 192.

Going down 26 I got great gas mileage. Coming back, not so good! This is longer mileage wise but since you get away from New York and Washington traffic it takes less time.