New York to Boston

[Jamie Morris]

What would be the best route with the least traffic?

[Mark Sedenquist]

Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum! What time parameter are you looking for? If you had 100 days, you could go by way of Anchorage....

And, what time of day and what day of the week?

Mark

[glc]

Exactly where in New York and Boston? That makes a difference.

[AZBuck]

As other posters have pointed out, the precise answer to your question depends on a number of factors that you haven't included in your post. But let's make a stab at a generally 'good' (not necessarily the 'best') answer. Assuming that you mean New York City and not some place else in New York state, then there are two basic routes to consider, I-95 and I-84/I-90, and a few combinations, permutations, and 'back roads'. Between the two basic routes (and I've driven them both multiple times) the clear winner most of the time is I-84/I-90. I-95 has the dubious distinction of connecting all or most of the coastal industrial cities of Connecticut since it pretty much follows the alignment of the centuries-old Boston Post Road. Using it would take you through Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, and New Haven all of which generate their own local traffic as well as inter-city traffic.

To get to I-84, by contrast, you head north immediately, getting off the coast and away from all its problems. This is not to say that there are no problems with this route, just that there are fewer - and less traffic generally - than I-95. My personal choice of routes up to I-84 from the George Washington Bridge was: New York State Thruway (I-87), to the Cross County Parkway, to the Hutchinson River Parkway, to I-684, to Brewster and I-84. Note that I usually drove this around 2:00 AM when there was very little traffic, and the Hutchinson River Parkway in particular, with its tight curves and short merge lanes, might be a significantly different experience during the day. At the least, you're going to have to determine the best way to get to I-684 near White Plains from your specific starting point.

You'd then just follow I-84 through Hartford and up to the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) near Sturbridge and follow that the rest of the way into Boston. There is one alternative worth mentioning. From Sturbridge to Auburn US-20 runs parallel to the Mass Pike. It's four lanes, there are only a coupe of very small towns, and it's free. By driving this and other such alternatives, I used to be able to make the trip between my home in southern Maine and my family near the northern tip of Chesapeake Bay on a single tank of gas and paying nothing in tolls.

As noted at the outset, there are other alternatives. You could start out on I-95 to New Haven and then use I-91 up to Hartford and I-84 rather than staying on I-95 all the way. Or you could use I-395 to get from I-95 near Lyme CT to I-90 near Auburn MA. But I'd suggest, as I have, that you look at I-684/I-84/I-90 as your basic route.

AZBuck