Providence to Pittsburgh

Good morning all,

My family and I will be departing on a road trip 10/26 from Providence, RI to arrive in Pittsburgh, PA for an appointment around noon on 10/28.

I am looking for some advice on whether to take I-80W, I-76W or perhaps some other variation. It looks like this will be about a 9-10 hour drive, and with a van full of kids, I'm planning to make the trip a 2 day travel. Ideally we'd travel 5-7 hours on Saturday, stay overnight, a couple more hours Sunday and be in Pittsburgh for Sunday night so there are no concerns with making the appointment. On the way back, I'm thinking depart Pittsburgh immediately on Monday (especially since there is Monday Night Football in town), and travel a few hours, stay overnight, and complete the round-trip on Tuesday.

Since we'll be splitting the trip, I don't think time is a major factor, unless it's drastic. The cheaper the tolls the better. I prefer an easier drive with less traffic, and less worrying about safety due to congestion.

So I am looking for some recommendations on the following:

• I-80W or I76W from Providence to Pittsburgh?
• Recommendations on a city/town on the way to split the travel?
• Any ideas for kid activities?
• I-80W or I76W from Pittsburgh to Providence?
• Recommendations on a city/town on the way to split the travel?

Thank you in advance,
Brandon

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

If you're looking to avoid tolls and traffic, then I'd certainly avoid I-76 - which is heavily tolled. I would also do what you can to avoid the NYC area to reduce traffic.

So the route I would suggest as a starting point would be to make your way to I-84 in Connecticut, take that to Scranton, use I-81, and take that down to I-80 for the trip across PA. You could use I-99/US-22 to shave off some miles into Pittsburgh.

Scranton/Wilkes Barre would be a good stopping point to split up the trip roughly halfway.
If you're just looking to get a couple hours outside of Pittsburgh on the way back, then I'd look at Altoona or State College.

Of course, since you are giving yourself a nice amount of time for this trip, you aren't locked in to making the most direct route. If there is something else you want to see or do along the way, for example, if your kids are chocolate fans and you wanted to visit Hershey, that would be a possibility that would require a slight detour, but still very possible.

Google maps has a feature to avoid tolls. It recommends generally what Michael is recommending - I-84 to I-81 to I-80 to I-99 to US-22 to I-376. Google says 9 hours and 10 minutes, add 20% to allow for delays and stops. 2 days are recommended.

To get to I-84, take I-95 to CT-9 to CT-66 to I-691.

It is worth noting that both US-6, which you would use from Providence to I-84 east of Hartford, and US-22, which you would use from I-99 south of Altoona to I-376 into Pittsburgh, are both four-lane divided, near-Interstate-quality roads and so should not slow you down too much.

For kid's activities, you don't really need much more than a playground and some fresh air, and there are several state parks along the route we're suggesting that will fill the bill including Wonder Lake State Park and Canoe Creek State Park which both have lakefront beaches and are roughly halfway on your first and second day's drive respectively. Picnic lunches might be in order.

AZBuck