AZBuck, thank you for the advice. Being from rural Montana and having never driven to the east coast I have no idea how much tolls slow you down or cost to go through. Frankly the idea of paying cash to drive down a road is a foreign weird concept to me. Guess I need to leave Montana and explore the country a little more!
RoadTrip Guru & Enthusiast
You can avoid quite a few tolls fairly easily.
From Rushmore to NYC: Take I-90 to Sioux Falls, then I-29 to I-880 (just north of Omaha) to I-80 to I-74 to I-70 to Columbus, I-71 to I-76 through Akron to I-80 to NYC. This does add about 150 miles but it saves you about 35 bucks. It also keeps you out of Chicago traffic.
NYC to DC is a different story. You either pay tolls up the wazoo fighting traffic, or go 100 miles out of your way. Not only is I-95 between NYC and DC toll, but the traffic is miserable almost 24/7. The alternate is I-78 to I-81 to I-70 to I-270, or sightsee down the NJ coast and take a ferry, which also involves tolls.
Being that you are from a rural area, the traffic is going to be a huge eye opener for you in NYC and DC. I'd highly recommend you find lodging well out in the suburbs close to public transportation, and use that to visit both cities.
Nowthatiamretired,
Thank you for the advice on EZ Pass! I will most definitely look into that.
glc,
Thank you for all the different road options. I am going to check in to all those roads and figure out what works best. I also already did assume it would be better to stay outside of the big city and Uber ride into them. Will be much easier than trying to negotiate a strange crowded city ourselves. This is definitely going to be a learning experience!
RoadTrip Guru & Enthusiast
For NYC, I'd stay out in the NJ suburbs and ride the commuter train into the city, and once in the city, look at the subway. It's a lot cheaper than Uber. Same with DC, stay out in VA or MD and take the Metro train.
Definitely look at staying near the metrorail system for DC BUT don’t do it towards the west of town this summer as the Orange line along I-66 will be shut down outside I-495 for maintenance of the stations, https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/l...ummer/2185770/. Most visitors who stay in Virginia tend to stay between Arlington down to National Airport where there are a lot of hotels so hopefully this summers shutdown won’t impact the tourists as much as last years did.
Thank you all so much for all the advice and information! I'm learning a lot to help make our trip as smooth as possible.
As far as I know, toll roads were constricted to bypass slower roads and provide a quick route that did not exist previously. They are limited access and are theoretically self funded with the tolls. Toll booths don’t slow you down significantly. In Fact, they are quickly disappearing and being replaced by a “toll by plate” system where cameras photograph your plate at expressway speeds and send a bill to you. Electronic transponders are available which are connected to your credit card and bill you at a lower rate.Originally Posted by Dolivo
I live in Florida and these toll roads are everywhere. Bypassing then costs you more in time, traffic and aggravation than it is worth.
Traveling man,
Do you know the EZ Pass?
RoadTrip Guru & Enthusiast
EZ Pass only works in certain states. His state (Florida) has its own system, EZ Pass doesn't work there.
https://www.e-zpassiag.com/about-e-zpass
It probably would not be worth it for a Montana resident to get one for just one trip. Each state that accepts EZ Pass has their own procedures and rules for getting one.
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