Philly to Myrtle Beach

Hi All,

Planning a trip this summer that will originate in Central New York, stop for an overnight in Philly (plus Phillies game of course) and then on to Myrtle Beach. Mapquest puts this trip at 10 hours. Wife and I would split the driving. Mistake to do it in one day? I'd plan on getting an early start, stopping a few times on the way (of course) pulling into MB by evening. Along with my wife and I, our two kids (15 and 11) would be making the trip in an SUV, equipped with video system, games, ect. Mapquest route runs I95 through DC, which sounds like a bottleneck for sure. Any advice on this would be appreciated, including best route to take, if I95 isn't.

Welcome!

One thing you have to keep in mind when using Mapquest or any other software - the driving times are optimistic. They do not reflect ANY stops or delays at ALL. You can certainly do it in 1 day, but not 10 hours.

You are right - I-95 can be miserable. However, there really isn't any good alternate that won't involve a lot more miles and/or other delays.

If you have the time to break the drive up, you could take your time and go down the coast or go inland and do some sightseeing.

Hello zdog,

There are a number of difficult ways to get from Philly to MB. Unfortunately, both the "left hook" and the "right hook" alternatives involve DC-Baltimore congestion to one degree or another, and each introduces other congestion or bushwhacking on down the road.

Unless your "early start" were to mean leaving Philly at, say, 4:00 am or so, you're not going to be able to miss the morning madness at Baltimore and DC. I would give some consideration to, say, a 9:00am departure from Philly, which should mean Balto at around 10:30 and reaching the south side of DC by, say, 11:30. You'd want to depart Philly with a full tank of fuel and an empty bladder, as excepting an I-95 rest stop/travel plaza right on the highway between Balto and DC, getting off and back on is a hassle.

From Dale City, VA to MB Mapquest shows 426 mi and a touch over 7 hours, for a 60 mph average including stops. Absent major traffic problems caused by wrecks, etc, I find this to be do-able. Particularly from the north side of Richmond, where I-295 swings you east around that city, I-95 is pretty much wide-open and passes through no towns or cities of significant size all the way into SC. Most of I-95 in VA, below Richmond, posts 65-70mph speed limits, and practically all of here in NC posts 70 mph limits. All of it is close to pancake flat and traffic moves fast. If that were to work out as I think it can, you could be in MB well before sunset on a long summer evening.

Foy

We often by-pass Baltimore and DC by getting off I-95 in Delaware and heading south on US-301. This route is a four lane divided hiway almost the entire way to Bowling Green, VA where you can take Rt 207 to I-95, just north of Richmond, VA. The speed limit is posted at 55mph almost the entire distance, except for a few towns with lights - giving you a chance to get out and stretch. You might check this route which avoids city congestion and is far more relaxing than the cities.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by C-USA

We often by-pass Baltimore and DC by getting off I-95 in Delaware and heading south on US-301. This route is a four lane divided hiway almost the entire way to Bowling Green, VA where you can take Rt 207 to I-95, just north of Richmond, VA. The speed limit is posted at 55mph almost the entire distance, except for a few towns with lights - giving you a chance to get out and stretch. You might check this route which avoids city congestion and is far more relaxing than the cities.

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While the US 301 route has been my normal "cheat route" from near Richmond to Annapolis, MD when I used to visit there a few times each year, there are rather more than a few stoplights. I once tried to count just the lights between the Potomac River bridge below La Plata and my exit on I-97 between Baltimore and Annapolis. The total was over 50. On weekday mornings and afternoons it's normally a stop-and-roll quagmire. While I do prefer it to being trapped on the Beltway in either Balto or DC, simply avoiding rush-hour movement strikes me as a good alternative.

Foy

Appreciate the advice, and will take you up on it. BTW, whats the traffic like around the megalopolis (Baltimore and DC) on Sunday?

.........and I have the great good fortune to live 1.6 miles from my office and even though both office and home are within 5 miles of the Capitol Square in Raleigh, and even though the Census figures show our region to be home to 1.6 million souls, I do the lion's share of my daily and weekly business and driving within my own Zip Code, a land of broad boulevards, small non-connected subdivisions, and few stoplights. So, I get to talking about traffic and how much I hate it, but I'm blessed to not have to deal with it for the most part.

On Sunday, February 20, I departed 12th Street in downtown DC at 0830 and headed south down I-395 to I-95. Traffic was very light until I reached I-95. It was then moderate until Lorton, VA, and then heavy southbound all the way to Fredericksburg, where I left I-95 at 0930 for a sit-down breakfast and a 4 hour bushwhack down back roads to I-85 south of Petersburg, a side-trip I took to avoid the building traffic on I-95.

My son is in the DC area regularly and I have close friends in Balto/Towson, MD. When I've been up there on Sunday afternoons, traffic is bad. Not like weekday rush hours, but bad.

Hope this helps.

Foy

It helps...as in, helps me desire flying rather than driving, but unfortunately, we're trying to save a couple of dollars here..

I don't mind the drive, but want to avoid making a long trip even longer.

Quick revision from an earlier post about Philly to Myrtle Beach. Looks like this trip will now originate in Syracuse, and end in Myrtle Beach. As much as we'd like to make some sight seeing stops along the way, this trip is more about getting there than the trip itself, but we'd be willing to make a stop or two on the way down or back if it's something worth seeing (we've never traveled this far by car before).

Looking for the following bits of info:

This looks like a 13 hour trip without stops. I'd love to hear some suggestions on best route, best safest place to stop for an overnight, and best advice as to where to stay along the Grand Strand that's fairly quiet and affordable. Thanks in advance!

Mod Note: Please don't create multiple threads about the same trip

My mapping software shows the fastest route is I-81/I-476/I-95 and is 815 miles. No way can you do that in 13 hours, it really is 2 full days and I would go out of my way to avoid it due to all the traffic congestion. If you do take that route, I'd stay near Richmond, if you can get that far before you get tired.

What I might do to avoid the worst of the I-95 corridor is take I-81 all the way to Staunton VA and spend the night somewhere around there, then take I-64 to Richmond and pick up I-95 for the rest of the way. This is about 80 miles longer but it will cut off the Philly/Baltimore/DC metro areas.

Nothing wrong with doing it in one day if you both are up to it. As long as you aren't driving while half asleep no issues, I think its easier to make it down in one day (to SC) than to split the trip up. Less travel time = more leisure time! One thing that I wont travel without now is a 12volt cooler, we pack it with sandwiches, drinks, fruit, pizza just about anything. Now we only stop for a restroom break and have enough cool food to last 2\3 days of driving.

As long as you aren't pushing your limits and can still function the more power to you, but there is nothing to fret about if you are exhausted and need to stop for the night. I've often met a number of good people by stopping at the next KOA or Mom & Pop camp ground for an evening of recharging my batteries!

Just wanted to update/recap our epic journey :). On the way down from Liverpool NY to Myrtle Beach SC we went wide west: I81 to I66, then cut across 17 to I95--to 501, to 17 in NMB. We did this with an overnight in Rocky Mount NC. Liked Rocky Mount for a stopping point here...made the second leg of journey a shorter trip. On the way back, we departed at @10am, and powered through (with my wife and I splitting the trip). This time, we hopped on I64 and up the mountain. Senic view, but wish there were pull-offs for eastbound traffic. We made ample stops for gas, food, and bathroom breaks...6 altogther...but still, it was a looonnng trip home, as we pulled in at 3:30am. We were tired, but with wife taking the wheel for the last 4 hours, it made all the difference in the world.