<p>One caution, not every neighborhood/ area North & Northeast of Columbia is equally wonderful. If this comment may be relevant maybe ask for specifics on the Columbia subforum, there are posters there who know the area well. (They are not always well-mannered & cooperative though.)</p>
<p>For several years I lived right across the street from Barnard. Traffic’s not bad around there. The challenge will be getting out of the City on a Friday evening. There are basically only three choices—GW Bridge which I understand is under construction and terribly slow (but otherwise usually the fastest route), the Lincoln Tunnel (can be slow, but probably your best option), or the Holland Tunnel (usually slower than the Lincoln Tunnel and you’ve got to fight your way through too much city traffic to get there). But honestly, any Hudson River crossing on a Friday evening could be hellish.</p>
<p>If I were making that trip, I’d probably do it in reverse order: drive from DC to NYC Thursday am and see Barnard in the afternoon, then head up the Henry Hudson Parkway to Westchester County and pick up the NY State Thruway in White Plains, exiting the Thruway at the Mid-Hudson Bridge for Poughkeepsie. Overnight lodging will be a lot cheaper in Poughkeepsie (or somewhere between the city and Poughkeepsie) than in the city, and you won’t have to pay for parking. You’ll be left with a 5.5 hour return drive to DC, but you can do it entirely west of the Hudson, i.e., NYS Thruway to Garden State Parkway to NJ Turnpike—so no hassles getting out of the city on a Friday evening.</p>
<p>This is all a lot of driving, though. I’d consider making it a 2-night trip. That, or take the train into the City—so much less mental and emotional stress! </p>
<p>Or, if you have strong reasons to go to Poughkeepsie first, think about going there first and driving south to Westchester, staying around Tarrytown or White Plains Thursday night and taking the train in from there on Friday am and back on Friday pm. You don’t want to have to schlep all the way back out to Poughkeepsie by train on Friday, only to turn around and drive 5.5. hours to DC. From Tarrytown or White Plains you can cross the Hudson on the Tappan Zee Bridge and connect with the Garden State Parkway south, connecting with the NJ Turnpike from there. Saves you 2-3 hours v. going all the way back out to Poughkeepsie, and untold hassle v. trying to drive on a bridge or tunnel directly out of Manhattan on a Friday evening. Problem with the Metro North trains is that they take you to Grand Central, so you’ll probably end up backtracking by subway from grand Central to Times Square and thence to Morningside Heights. If it were me, I’d take the Hudson line from Tarrytown and get off at the Marble Hill stop, walk 2 blocks to the #1 subway and take that to 116th St., the Columbia-Barnard stop—but if you’re unfamiliar with the route, that may be more than your comfort level allows.</p>
<p>Much as I love the city, I think you should ignore all the wonderful suggestions people have offered here about additional things wou might want to add to your trip. If you’re trying to see Barnard and Vassar in a day, you’ve got you hands full.</p>
<p>Second bclintonk re the George Washington Bridge. The last few times I crossed it, the delays were ridiculous – 1-2 hours coming into NY, 45 minutes+ on the way out (on a Sunday afternoon, early). Friday afternoon will be awful. The Lincoln Tunnel is probably a better option. Drive down Broadway to Columbus Circle, then take 8th Avenue down into the 40s and follow the signs. There will be terrible traffic there, too, but it won’t be as bad as the George Washington.</p>
<p>In terms of leaving NYC for DC, generally I would agree with the idea of taking the Tappan Zee and the Garden State, except that on a Friday afternoon in August the Garden State – which is the main route to the Jersey Shore – is capable of being bumper to bumper from the Newark suburbs all the way to Wildwood. The Jersey Turnpike will also provide you with extra hours to enjoy each other’s company, but it will usually be only 10-15 miles or so, from the cut-down at exit 8A to the Great Adventure/Shore exit 7A.</p>
<p>There will be no way to avoid terrible traffic. Try not to stress, and don’t have unrealistic expectations about how fast you are going to get to DC.</p>
<p>If you depart from Poughkeepsie, you are pretty much locked into the Garden State at some point, or circling way around northern New Jersey, or driving through the GWB traffic, so that doesn’t help much. My advice was to grin and bear it, not to try to beat the system.</p>
<p>I don’t recall OP was planning to stay till Friday evening. She’s not trying to do both on Friday, just Barnard, and Barnard is not big. Zabar’s & H&H are nice, but typically do not take one from 11am to 8pm; the other things were ideas for Thursday evening. .I would have thought departure by 2pm or so would be fine, with the customary delays. But I haven’t done this drive, at that time, recently, so I defer.</p>
<p>Possible GWB is even worse than usual, maybe there’s someplace to check about delays. Point about Friday/ Jersey shore is probably valid. Delays have to be significant to add up to depart from Poughkeepsie, but unfortunately this is not impossible.</p>
<p>It does not routinely take me that long to go out over the bridge; coming in is generally a far bigger problem. But I can’t say about the specific time of day/week issues, or if there are construction issues currently. And sometimes its backed up anyway. Plus, I’m usually getting on the bridge from Westchester, not from NYC.</p>
<p>I personally have had worse luck with the tunnels than with the bridge. I remember once I missed a plane flight due to a Lincoln tunnel backup.</p>
<p>If you do decide to stay in Poughkeepsie overnight check out the Vassar Alumni House. They have clean comfortable rooms at knockdown prices and breakfast is included. It is across the street from the school. H and I have stayed there several times. We live in NJ just outside of NYC. The drive takes about 11/2 hours and is very easy.</p>
<p>JHS if she stays on the Vassar side of the Hudson she doesn’t have to touch Garden State or cross the GWB. Getting from Barnard back to DC, well that’s always painful. Listen to 880 or 1010 and if the tunnels are faster you can go down the west side and pick up the Lincoln Tunnel. We never ever go on the Garden State Parkway, we just suffer through the Turnpike. Done that drive more times than I can count, and will be doing it again in a few weeks to look at the DC schools.</p>
<p>"Getting from Barnard back to DC, well that’s always painful. "</p>
<p>FWIW I’ve driven to my friend’s in Basking ridge NJ probably 15 times over the last 2 years, going over GWB, and have never really had much of a problem on the way out to there. Not very recently, and not on Friday afternoon in the summer. but other times.</p>
<p>That leg of the trip, when I’ve gone, would not have been highly painful.
I’ve hit some pretty bad traffic between Baltimore and DC, but that’s another story.</p>
<p>So I can’t say for sure that it won’t be painful under current circumstances, but as for being always painful, well not the first leg, in my opinion, as a blanket matter. Certainly sometimes, but not always.</p>
<p>Usually I get on and over the bridge, to leave the city, with little trouble at all, but often with a bit of annoying delay getting on in the first place. But not enough to leave me with a terrible impression of the effort. Whereas, coming into the city is quite another matter.</p>
<p>Whether that would hold true currently, again I defer.</p>
<p>Don’t be intimidated by driving in Manhattan; lots of places are worse. My H swears by the GWB as an exit route, and if you are at Barnard, you can go up the west side on Henry Hudson, and get on GWB, which usually is not so bad, but I have not been recently. I don’t like getting into the Lincoln tunnel myself, but if you do, here is my tip on entering the tunnel try to do it from 11th ave., (which is calledWest End Ave. on the upper west side). Somewhere in the 40’s there will be signs to get to the left for the turn into the tunnel.</p>
<p>To get into the Holland tunnel, remember that 7th Ave. becomes 7th ave. south which becomes Varick st. The tunnel entrance is on the right, and there are signs for it. 7th ave does not begin (when traveling south) until you get south of Central Park South (approx. 59th st.) So from Barnard Area, head south, and below 59th, you will make a left on a side st. to get to 7th.</p>
<p>Traffic on the NJT south can be awful on a friday until you get south of exit 7 where there is a merge. I would not seek a way around it, but bring good CD’s for the ride. I personally made it from DC to NJ on a 4CD springsteen set at few years ago, and it was a really nice ride. My whole family just slept.</p>
<p>Folks, the problems on the George Washington Bridge are new this summer. I generally take it in and out of Manhattan, especially if I am going to the Upper West Side (which is often the case). But the last time it took over an hour and a half on a Saturday afternoon to go the last five miles or so in New Jersey and over the bridge. We passed the toll booths around 2:15, and it was 4:30 by the time we got to where we were supposed to meet friends at 3:00. Then leaving in early afteroon on Sunday, not generally a bad time, it took 40 minutes to get from the Henry Hudson to New Jersey. I think the lower level of the bridge is closed or something.</p>
<p>I live in the Poughkeepsie area and have relatives in the DC area. We always drive through Pennsylvania - it’s a pleasant drive, there are never delays, and there is no “white knuckle” driving as there is on 95. It takes a bit longer than the 95 route if the 95 route has no delays, but that’s rare. If you’re interested, the route is 84 west to 81 south through PA. Then it depends on where you’re going in the DC area.</p>
<p>LOL, well I admit we do 90% of our driving to DC on weekends and especially holiday weekends. But usually getting out of Manhattan isn’t bad, it’s getting in, even with EZ pass you usually have a wait at the tolls. I didn’t know the lower level of the GWB was closed. You can also look for traffic backups on google maps.</p>
<p>JHS we try to listen to the radio before we get to the Lincoln Tunnel turn off on the Turnpike because the GW bridge occasionally misbehaves.</p>
<p>Re #34 - 880 and 1010 both do traffic updates about every ten minutes.</p>
<p>Okay, you’ve got me rethinking this. I hadn’t thought about Friday afternoon/eve Jersey Shore traffic and I’ll look into 81 S through PA from Vassar, so I’m going to look at going into NYC Thursday morning (there’s a midday tour and info session) and then heading to Vassar. I was trying to get more time at Barnard since they do summer interviews, but we should be able to squeeze it all in even with the drive north. Assuming they still have interview slots that day–I’ll have D call today. We could have dinner in NYC and head out to Poughkeepsie after rush hour. This could work…</p>
<p>If taking the Henry Hudson Parkway/ West side highway North to start the trip from Barnard towards Vassar, try to get over all the way to the leftmost lane as soon as you can after you get on. That will help minimize the common slowdown for people getting off the highway, from the right and ,often, middle lanes, to get onto the GWB on-ramp.</p>
<p>Other than that, if you’ve avoided rush hour you should have reasonably smooth sailing.
You can still do virtually anything you were going to do in NYC Thursday evening anyway, by that plan, since it’s not really such a terrible drive out there.</p>
<p>IS 81S the route thru to the Poconos? Or is that 78? Because ages ago we were looking to get a weekend place in the Poconos, and encountered some pretty decent backups on that route, on several summer weekends. Going out via the Holland Tunnel, in our case. But I can’t remember the details. Again it was worse coming in then going out.</p>
<p>New Jersey and Long Island are like Pluto to me, I never really know where I’m going…</p>
<p>^ I think Yalemom2 is suggesting taking I-84 from Newburgh, NY (a little south of Poughkeepsie) to Scranton, then down to DC via I-81 to Harrisburg then I-83 to Baltimore? Makes sense to me. Randmcnally.com shows 5.5 hours Poughkeepsie-DC via the Garden State Parkway and the NJ Turnpike, but with weekend beach traffic it’s bound to be longer. It shows 2 hours Poughkeepsie-Scranton and 4 hours Scranton-DC for a total of 6 hours, but no major population centers and no beach traffic, so likely faster and almost certainly less hassle. Rural driving. Nice. The only possibly congested part would be Baltimore-DC, but if you live in the DC area you’re basically home once you get to Baltimore.</p>
<p>Monydad, from the holland tunnel you probably got on 78, but that is a bit south of the poconos. For the poconos you have to go north from 78, and rt. 80 runs through the poconos. Rt 81 south is a bit west of the main pocono area. I have spent years on Pluto.</p>
<p>For the OP, the post about going from Vassar to DC through PA sounds good to me, having traveled around these parts. There is a merge where 81 and 78 meet, but I think most of the traffic is on 78 not 81. We went to Hershey PA over july 4th, which is usually a busy weekend, and our merge from 78 west to 81 south took about 20 minutes, but you would be coming south on 81 already, so I think you would be ok.<br>
A lot of the roads in PA had construction lane closures (we also traveled through scranton area early in June) earlier in the summer. Do you have triple A? They usually have info on any road work. It was not too bad, but it did take extra time.</p>
<p>I-84 is the East-West route that crosses the Hudson at Newburgh and goes to Scranton. You get from Poughkeepsie to Newburgh on I-87. From Scranton you can pick up I-81 to Harrisburg, and then you have a choice of (a) I-83 to Baltimore, (b) Route 15 to DC, or (c) staying on I-81 to Hagerstown.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago, there was construction on I-81 just north of Scranton that caused horrendous delays. I’m serious – this made the GW Bridge look like a freeway. Many miles of backup in both directions on a Friday afternoon. But I think I-84 hits I-81 south of there (at least south of where the problem was two weeks ago). </p>
<p>When she drives in Thursday morning from DC to NYC, how is she to best get into the city? Presumably she will be trying to miss the morning rush in any event. The way I would logically go to get to Barnard is take GWB, but does that not that put her into not merely the typical “russian roulette” delays entering the city, but a potentially highly compounded version due to JHS’s closing of the lower roadway of the GWB on Thursday??</p>
<p>Else there’s Lincoln Tunnel, and then stay far on the west side to head uptown to avoid dying in traffic. But that drive uptown will still take a while. And I’ve rarely driven in through that tunnel, I’ve no idea what to expect there.</p>
<p>I think I’d rather do the trip the other way, leave earliesh Friday from Barnard and hope for the best.</p>