We are coming from SC and plan on travelling up 77/I-81 and crossing over at some point to avoid I-95. However our timing is not what I hoped and H has heard from northern colleagues that Tappan Zee is down to one lane each way. It looks possible to go even further north - of course that bridge is under repair as well. Any advice? My original plan had us crossing Tappan Zee on Friday am (next week/grad school) after rush hour but now we need to get there earlier.
The only way to avoid 95 North is to take RT 15 / Merritt Parkway to exit 57 (RT 34) into New Haven.
So coming from SC on 81 North, you should take 81 North, to Route 78 East, to Route 287 North, to Route 80 East to 87 North to the Cross County Parkway to Hutchinson River Parkway North to Rt 15 / Merritt Parkway. Got that? Or, you should just assume it’s going to take you forever, and take 95 North until New Haven.
The Tappan Zee is not really an issue at this point as far as being one lane. Rush hour may be an issue but you’re not going to avoid that at that hour of the day. Not sure where you got that info about one lane. I like the Merritt (route 15) because no matter what the “traffic app” tells me when I leave home, SOMETHING happens on 95. And while gibby (I think) is recommending the GWB I avoid that at all costs. It’s about a 10 minute difference in theory but I ALWAYS take the Tappen Zee.
Do what Gibby said and make sure you are in the far right lane because the entrance to the Henry Hudson is right at the end of the George Washington Bridge. Take the exit that is just before the big tunnel after Orange/Derby. I am pretty sure its a right. That road will take you right into Yale. I would not even dare to try the Tappan Zee on a good day nor would I ever want to drive 95. From NYC to New Haven, 95 is a mess. There are no trailers or trucks allowed on the Merritt however- make a note of that if you were planning on furniture.
Yes, I was recommending the GWB. However, the only way I know of to connect to the Tappen Zee going north is to take Route 80 to the New Jersey Parkway to Route 287 East to the Hutchinson River Parkway to Route 15 / Merritt Parkway. But, depending upon the time of day, you could be at a dead stand-still on the NJ Parkway or 287 East. The same applies for the GWB. So, my recommendation is to just suck-it-up and say it’s going to take you forever no matter which route you take.
FWIW: We live in New York City, so we take the Degan (87 North) to 287 East (Cross County) to the Hutch to RT 15 / Merritt Parkway to exit 57 (RT 34) into New Haven. From mid-town NYC, including traffic, it takes an hour and fifteen minutes, to an hour and a half depending on traffic.
True- I would make sure you are not heading in during any prime times. Commuter traffic is a nightmare and thank god for EZPass… If it were me I would travel really late at night and then just get a room near New Haven to avoid hours in traffic either way.
I travel frequently to Yale, NY, CT, etc. I strongly encourage the use of Waze, an application for smart phones. It is an application that uses the data provided by other users to find the route most appropriate at any moment. In Northern NJ, at 8:15 pm today, there are 26,000 Wazers reporting on traffic, accidents, etc. From my house in northern NJ, the best route is sometimes GWB, sometimes Tappan Zee, 95, 15, etc. I sound like a shill, but it has saved my bacon more than once.
I used traffic-aware TomTom and Garmin devices until recently, but have removed them from my cars. Waze is simply better and free. Warning: it uses a lot of power, so I’d leave my phone plugged into a charger.
I wasn’t as worried about being on 95 for a bit in CT as getting around NYC as a whole. Figured we’d be on it for a least a bit. Thanks for the advice. I will check a map.
Were considering going even further north to Scranton and cutting over which adds more time, but I don’t love big city driving/heavy traffic. Sigh… time to get out the maps. ( I know I’ll love it once we get up there 
)
Gibby’s info is really useful to us. We are leaving from central Jersey.
Coming from the west you can take 80 directly to 287 and skip the Parkway, and really skip most of NYC. My dad drives from NC and comes up 81 to 78 (in the middle of PA) to 287 to my home in Westchester County NY. We often drive from Philly (kid at Swat) and do Penn Turnpike to GSP to 287 to Tappan Zee. Unless there’s a disaster or Thanksgiving, not too bad. But agree that it’s all about what’s happening “today”.
And if you care, the toll on the GWB is about 2.5 times that of the TZ!
I may not know the ins and outs of residential colleges, but this I know. @gibby is absolutely correct, @Memmsmom is correct if you are on the upper level of the GWB, stay left on the lower level, and you should be on the lower level it is usually faster, @IxnayBob is absolutely right about Waze, but I would point out the Google bought Waze and that it is incorporated into Google Maps. Don’t be afraid of NYC and environs, you’ll hit traffic at the GWB but the Tappan Zee, even with all lanes open, is no picnic either.
We drive from the DC area, and use three routes: (1) straight up 95 over GWB, (2) up 270 and 15 to Harrisburg, and then 81 and 78 through Allentown to 287 to bypass, New York, coming back onto 95 (or the Merritt) into New Haven or (3) up 270 and 15 to 81, 81 up to Scranton, across on 84, then CT 34 down into New Haven. (Somebody coming from further south could of course take 81 from further south.) There are pros and cons of all these routes. The route straight up 95 and the New Jersey Turnpike is usually the fastest, but it is by far the most unpleasant, with lots of traffic and congestion around New York. The route on 78 is a bit better, but there are still lots of trucks on 78, and still a lot of congestion on the New York end. (One plus is that you can stop and see Roadside America in Shartlesville, PA.) The route through Scranton adds at least an hour to the trip, but it is a lot less grueling–we often choose to go that way if we’re not in a huge hurry, or if we’d be travelling during a weekday. (If you go that way, a nice place to stop to eat is Milford, PA, which has some nice restaurants and shops.)
We drove up from DC last weekend, and the traffic came to a dead-stop near the Delaware Memorial Bridge going into New Jersey on route 95. That was far worse than anything we experienced near New York.
Yeah, that too. There can be lots of slowdowns on all of these routes, unfortunately.
I just don’t get why one would willingly choose the GWB over the TZ at rush hour.
Maybe not at the peak of rush hour, maybe. But as said before, all of these routes are susceptible to congestion. My feeling is that if you avoid the Cross Bronx-which you should even in no traffic, that you take the hit at the GWB but its pretty smooth sailing after…unless the Hutch is backed up:)
Thanks for the great advice! We took the TZ and then took 15 to avoid/bypass some of the CT traffic. Even during Friday morning rush hour we had no slow downs! We made fantastic time until we actually hit the local move-in traffic.
funny, I was taking my kid to Swarthmore that morning going the opposite way on the TZ. I noticed that traffic looked good on the TZ going east, and also heard on the radio about some disaster at the GW causing a massive backup. I thought of this post and hoped people were using the TZ!
So all the info was helpful, but still stressful trip for someone like me who hates interstates that are extremely busy and where people change lanes and zip around you with only inches to spare! We went a week earlier since D moving to grad school. Bad start in PA with downpour and driving in dark where couldn’t see a thing (obviously beyond our control). Second day things moving well until getting off on 287 (?) to head across TZ. Traffic stopped on exit ramp. Stopped and we were in inside lane. Thankfully D and BF were far enough behind us to realize problem early (waze) and got off before and went around problem and got on TZ no problem. We would have been there for hours except for some wonderful truck driver (unmarked truck or I totally would have bragged on him to his company) who walked back to each car and told us of tractor trailer wreck. He then helped people back up on exit land enough to get out. We ended up going north and over so that added an hour (but pretty).
New Haven takes some getting use to with all the one way streets. Actually reminds me of Charleston, SC and after several days I kind of figured out how to get places. One of H colleagues in NH office told us she prefers to get directly on 95 to get places rather than mess that is 91/95. Harrowing - God forbid you end up in wrong lane. People will not let you over! And is it a NH thing that 4 way stops are just a suggestion?
Took 15 when we left. 95 would have been faster if not for mowing but I was much happier. D is settled and has her car and has figured out important things like how to get to Target and Trader Joes and spent a lot of time rolling her eyes at my obsession over avoiding interstate to get somewhere. Had issue with car and more than happy with Branford Honda dealership plus got name of good garage for future from H co-worker. She has cute and safe apartment (Yale police have office in her building) and has fallen in love with food trucks.
Anyway, next time I see D will probably involve an airplane! Never so happy to see 81 and I wouldn’t have said that 5 years ago when D1 started W&L. Definitely agree that fastest route might depend on day and that Waze or other traffic tracker is best way to go if you don’t care which road you take. Thanks again.