Chicago to long island

Hi all. This is my first post here and I hope I'm in the right place.

I am making a trip from the western suburbs of Chicago to Long Island (Floral Park), NY. I am planning on leaving August 12th or 13th but was hoping for some advice. I'm truly just looking for the quickest and easiest route, as the less time the drive takes, the more time I have to spend with family in NY.

Any suggestions on the best times to leave (late, very early, early, etc.), the best routes to take, and even the tolls I should expect to pay would be greatly appreciated. Thank You!

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

This is really a very straightforward drive. You get on I-80 in southern Chicago, and you don't get off it until you ready to roll into NYC and I-80 terminates at I-95. The easiest route from that junction in Northern NJ (at least in terms of having to remember it, so you can concentrate on the traffic, is I-95 (north) to I-295 south and the Throgs Neck Bridge. then either stay on I-295 or take the Cross Island Parkway depending on exactly where you're going in Floral Park. This is about a day and a half drive total, which should let you drive through New York during mid-day rather than rush hour, Trying to cover the entire 800+ miles in a single day is NOT recommended.

Personally, I would try for a very 'early to bed, early to rise' departure, so that you can hit the road before 6:00 AM and get out of Chicago before the worst of rush hour. Then plan to pull up in mid afternoon in northern Pennsylvania along I-80 somewhere (very roughly in the Williamsport area), take an evening stroll, get a good night's sleep, and be ready to head for the big city fairly early in the morning, aiming to hit the George Washington Bridge sometime around mid-morning, say 10:00 AM, so that you're with your family for lunch.

As for tolls, you can expect to pay roughly $4.00 for the Indiana Toll Road and $15 for the Ohio Turnpike. I believe that the George Washington Bridge will hit you for another $12 as you enter NYC, but it's free to leave. The toll on the Tri State Tollway will depend on exactly where you're coming from, but I suspect you're more familiar with it's rates than I am in any event.

AZBuck

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

The route itself is about as simple as possible: get on I-80 and head east. That will take you all the way to NYC.

The only real question is to get around NYC and onto Long Island. I suspect the best bet would be to use I-280 to I-95 past Newark Airport, then I-278 across Staten Island, to the belt parkway, although that's really just speculation. I-95 across the GW Bridge and onto the Cross Bronx to the Throngs Neck Bridge would be a bit more direct, but could be a traffic headache.

As far as tolls go, make sure you bring your I-Pass, as it works on EZ-Pass routes outside of Illinois, and will save you about $10 just in Indiana and Ohio alone. It will cost you about $15 to get through those 2 states with an I-Pass, plus several more dollars to cross the various bridges in New York.

In any case, you're looking at a trip thats 850 miles and you need to plan a day and a half for the trip. If you did your long day on day one, you could look to stop around State College/Williamsport/Milton, PA areas. Alternatively, if you wanted to leave in the afternoon, you'd want to get to at least Toledo to have a reasonable full 2nd day on the road.

I think Buck has the right idea, I-80/I-95/I-295 to the Throgs Neck Bridge would probably be best, in spite of how nasty the Cross Bronx section is. However, the best alternate through Staten Island would be to take PA-33 south to I-78, then I-78 to I-287 to the Outerbridge Crossing, then NY-440 to I-278 to the Verrazano and Belt Parkway (NOTE - do NOT take the BQE!). You want to avoid I-280 when possible, it's a nasty road in its own right.