Travel thru New York City

[bygoner]

I am booked on Explorer of the Seas for departure from Bayonne, NJ on Oct 20, 2006. I live in NH and plan on driving by vehicle from my home to Bayonne and leaving my vehicle in the parking garage. My question: I would like any info from anyone who has experienced driving thru New York City, specifically I-95 thru to the George Washington Bridge and on to NJ Pike. My only previous experience is Rt 84 in Connecticut on to the Tappan Zee Bridge and then the Garden State Parkway and on to NJ Turnpike and then to Delaware when I am on my way to Florida.:eek:

[smeyer418]

You in fact can go over the Tappanze and then head down the Palisades Interstate Parkway to 95 to the NJ Turnpike and avoid going on the I-95 cross bronx expressway to the GW Bridge which is almost always a mess....but then again the portion that you will be on i-95 through CT is pretty crowded to. If you are a member of AAA try having them give you alternate directions. or use www.maquest.com and play around with it yourself.

[superjerryw]

If you're driving down the same day as the cruise my only advice would be to leave very, very early in the morning. If you're leaving on October 20, that's a Friday and you may encounter heavy traffic anywhere along the route.

[DPurcell58]

I agree, leave very early if you're coming on a Friday. Also, there is no "parking garage", it's a lot that you leave your car in, out in the open.

[superjerryw]

Actually, if it were me and I was driving that far I would drive down the night before and stay in a hotel somewhere in Jersey so I would just have a short drive to the pier in the morning and avoid the Friday morning rush hour mess.

[clingandclatter]

If you could find an alternate to the Cross Bronx & GW I'd say do it. It can be a total nightmare on that road sometimes. Once it took me three hours to go about 2 miles on that road. I was not a happy camper.

[windjamming]

Agree with all posts above. You don't have to go through NYC at all to get to Bayonne, and in fact I'd avoid it altogether. Stick with the Tappan Zee, and while it still may be busy, it will be far better than the GW.

 

Enjoy the car ride- what beautiful fall foliage you'll see!

[shirleygr]

You in fact can go over the Tappanze and then head down the Palisades Interstate Parkway to 95 to the NJ Turnpike and avoid going on the I-95 cross bronx expressway to the GW Bridge which is almost always a mess....but then again the portion that you will be on i-95 through CT is pretty crowded to. If you are a member of AAA try having them give you alternate directions. or use www.maquest.com and play around with it yourself.

If you take I-91 into CT, you can cut over to Rte 15 South (wilbur cross/merit parkway) in Meriden and take that into NY. Rte 15 turns into the Hutchinson Parkway. Take the Hutch to 287 to get to the Tappan Zee from there. My dh says 84 might be an alternative way to get there, so look into that as well.

Agree with everyone else--leave early or the day before. Traffic really stinks in CT/NY, especially on Fridays. HTH. Have a good time!