Driving from New York to Florida. How much time will this I-95 S Exit 52 detour save?

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Originally Posted by AZBuck

Two things need to be established from the get go. First and foremost, you should NOT plan on spending your first night in South Carolina.

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Originally Posted by glc

I would strongly recommend you take part of a 3rd day!

For a 2.5 day drive, good overnights going this way would be Wytheville VA and St. Augustine.

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You guys talked me into it. I’m adding a day to the trip! Appreciate the advice about the heavily patrolled areas. I’m not a speeder or dangerous driver but I did foresee the possibility of arriving in South Carolina vary late at night, with frazzled nerves from too much driving and caffeine, and having to repeat the process the next day.

Now, I need some help with places to stay. Google maps tells me that Wytheville VA is 536 miles away and (at this time of night) is 8 and a half hours away, so I don’t see it as much of an improvement over South Carolina for the first night. I’m going to do the math and try to figure it out myself, but thought one of the experienced drivers here could good give me two good destinations to stay. I try to find Days Inns as I am a member of their rewards program.

Wherever I end up staying, thanks for talking some sense into me!

As a few above mention, the "I-81" option is the easiest, less stressful of the options. Nothing worse that spending 2 hours in huge congested traffic jams in a 10 hr drive day (which just became a 12-hr drive day). Quite frankly, once you are on I-81, you can basically Garmin/GPS it rest of the way without significant worries of navigating through or around big cities. And some of those city beltways add quite a few miles to the trip.

Another thing I usually do is add waypoints to my trip to ensure it follows the route I intend. GLC suggested two good places to stop for the night.

If you take the I-95 (more or less) routing, then a good target for your first night might be the Days Inn in Benson NC at 513 miles from NYC. A little bit farther down the road, there's a Days Inn in Fayetteville, 543 miles from NYC. I wouldn't try to get any farther than that, even if you breeze through Baltimore, Washington and Richmond. Your second night should be somewhere in the Daytona, Orlando, Titusville area. There is a Days Inn in Daytona Beach, which is 482 miles from Fayetteville or 512 from Benson. So stops in Benson and Daytona Beach would break your drive up into two equal and relatively easy days, and a shorter third day to your final destination.

AZbuck

My suggestions for Wytheville and St. Augustine are based on a 500 to 550 mile per day pace. This will get it done in 2.5 days and is as far as I'd try to drive in one day. If you want to drive less each day bringing it to 3 full days, overnights can be in Lexington VA and Savannah or look at places in between.

Lexington and Roanoke both have Days Inns. Wytheville does not, but they do have a Super 8, which also has Wyndham Rewards.
Savannah, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine all have Days Inns.

What you could do is use Lexington and Savannah as "targets". If you can comfortably drive farther, go for it, but don't go any farther than Wytheville or St. Augustine.

If I were you, I would not prebook rooms, especially on the first night where you have the largest chance to see traffic or weather issues. New Years day isn't a peak time for motels, so you're not likely to struggle to find a place. Wait until mid-afternoon and when you're taking a break you'd need anyway, and figure out a good place to stop for the night.

I decided on an easy first day and split up the mileage for the other 2:

Staying in Ashland, VA the first night and Ridgeland, SC the next.

Looks like a reported 5 and a half hours and 330 miles for the first leg. The other 2 legs are around 450 miles each and a reported 6 and a half hours each.

Probably unusual to plan and not have the last day easier, but I have my reasons for wanting to take it easier the first day.

Anyway, thanks a lot of all the help! I'll post after the trip and report the routes, times, and any issues.

So you are going to take I-95? If you take I-81 you could break it up with first night in New Market or Staunton VA (both have a Days Inn) or Harrisonburg VA (Super 8) and second night in St. George SC (Days Inn).

By the way, it's best to add 20% to Google drive times to account for rest, food, and gas stops, and possible traffic and construction delays.

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Originally Posted by glc

So you are going to take I-95? If you take I-81 you could break it up with first night in New Market or Staunton VA (both have a Days Inn) or Harrisonburg VA (Super 8) and second night in St. George SC (Days Inn).

By the way, it's best to add 20% to Google drive times to account for rest, food, and gas stops, and possible traffic and construction delays.

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I’m leaning towards starting with I-95, as I familiar and comfortable with that route. If I do that, I probably won’t have to make any decisions until exit 52. I do have a while to make up my mind.
Apps must see a lot of traffic on the northbound FDR right now, as their current directions have me going south first. Waze has me taking the Lincoln Tunnel to the Jersey Turnpike South to I-95 and then also taking exit 52. The Maps app has me going the same way, but then exiting at 62. Not sure if you folks are familiar with Manhattan driving, but for people who don’t normally use these Jersey tunnels for everyday commutes, getting there is a nightmare. There are always detours and generally apps don’t keep up with the proper routes to the entrances. I can get to the George Washington Bridge in my sleep.

Hope you guys don’t mind the side rant, but navigation apps could use a lot of improvement. It would be a simple feature to show multiple routes, with projected times for each one. Also, there should be a way to set a threshold for time-saving. Always annoying if an app figures out how to save 3 minutes, but I have to exit, make some turns, then get on a service road, and then back on the main highway. Let the user set a preference that the app should stick with the original route, unless it saves a minimum amount of time that the user can define.

I already made reservations at the Ashland VA, and Ridgeland, SC Days Inns.

It is a reasonable risk taking the I-95 southbound route because it is a national holiday with two more days for people to return home (on Sat and Sun). However, on your return trip you may want to consider diverting towards an I-81 route plan at or just north of Savannah, GA, as the South Carolina neck down from 3 lanes to 2 lanes can sometimes be a monster slow down. That is one of the reasons I often take the AutoTrain from the Orlando area (Sanford, FL) up to the Washington DC south of the beltway station (Lorton, VA). That and because I-95 is a rather boring drive, full of trucks, and several other obstacles.

If you are really going to take I-95, to keep it simple do this, and make sure you have an EZ-Pass:

GWB to NJ Turnpike all the way to Delaware onto I-95
Coming in to Baltimore, take I-895 through the Harbor Tunnel back to I-95
Take the DC beltway, either direction, your choice, back to I-95
Take I-295 around the east side of Richmond