Archive: holiday travel
Travel Advisories for July 4
There won't be any scheduled road work in the Washington region on Wednesday, but the concrete barriers will still be in place at the big projects, including the staging area on the northbound side of the Legion Bridge. Before you head into Washington for the Independence Day celebrations, you should know that many downtown street will be closed and parking restricted. Consider taking Metro. (And thanks to Brian for pointing out this map illustrating Metro holiday service.) Metro Transit Metro parking is free on July 4, and holiday rail fares are in effect. Metrorail and Metrobus operate from 7 a.m. to midnight. The Smithsonian Station is closed. MetroAccess, the ride program for the elderly and disabled, will operate from 5:30 a.m. to midnight. Suburban Transit Ride On and the Fairfax Connector will operate on a Saturday schedule. ART will run Sunday service for Routes 41 and 51. DASH will operate...
By Robert Thomson | July 3, 2007; 05:40 AM ET | Comments (1)
Getting Around This Weekend
Can't go skiing this weekend because there's nothing around here to ski on? Some Virginians are on a four-day weekend, thanks to the Lee-Jackson Day state holiday on Friday. While others must settle for the three-day weekend provided by the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday on Monday. The weather outlook isn't great for travelers, but at least it's consistent: It's a headlights and windshield wipers weekend. Showers through Monday, with high temperatures in the 50s and lows in the high 30s and 40s. If you're hanging around town, and maybe taking in the "Monster Jam" of trucks at Verizon Center or "King Lear" at the Folger Shakespeare Library (anybody got tickets for both?) or seeing "King: A Filmed Record" at the AFI Silver Theatre, you can reach all of those by Metro. But here are some things to know about the weekend transit schedule: -- Track work: Arlington Cemetery...
By Robert Thomson | January 12, 2007; 08:37 AM ET | Comments (16)
How Was Your Holiday Travel?
Happy holidays, everyone. When you recover, please share your frontline travel accounts. Did you find interesting new routes to your traditional holiday destinations or leave at hours so ghastly that you were practically alone on the roads? We did both: On the way up to Northern New Jersey on Saturday, we left in late morning, took I-95 to the Baltimore Beltway, then went up I-83 into Pennsylvania, to I-81, to I-80 to I-280. Trip was about six hours, 310 miles. Traffic halted only once, in Harrisburg, and the route was scenic, through farmlands, hill country and the Delaware Water Gap. Excellent weather all the way. Wouldn't do it in less than ideal conditions. Fearing a heavy mix of holiday drivers and commuters, we left Tuesday at 4:20 a.m. and took our traditional route down the New Jersey Turnpike, across the Delaware Memorial Bridge and down I-95. That route was three...
By Robert Thomson | December 26, 2006; 03:15 PM ET | Comments (11)
Advisories For the Holidays
Thanksgiving is easy. Christmas-New Year's is hard. At least in terms of predicting when the worst of the getaway traffic will occur. I'll predict waves of badness from Friday evening through Saturday, without anything being as bad as a typical Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving. Same deal on the return from the long weekend. There will be some Monday night traffic and some Tuesday traffic. Nothing that's the equivalent of the big Sunday return after Thanksgiving. People have so much more flexibility at the end of December. Lon Anderson of AAA-Mid-Atlantic gave some good advice for holiday travelers during a Live Online discussion today. We have some travel advisories from the various transportation agencies. -- In Virginia, short-term lane closures for construction and maintenance projects will be lifted from 6 a.m. Saturday until 6 a.m. Wednesday and again from 6 a.m. Dec. 30 until 6 a.m. Jan. 3. Construction zones with...
By Robert Thomson | December 21, 2006; 06:32 AM ET | Comments (6)
Downtown Traffic For Tree Lighting
Here's what you need to know from D.C. police about the downtown traffic situation for this afternoon's lighting of the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse: There is no parking until 7 p.m. at these locations: -- 15th Street NW from Constitution Avenue to E Street NW -- 17th Street NW from Constitution Avenue, to E Street NW -- Constitution Avenue NW from 15th to 17th streets NW -- E Street, NW from 15th to 17th streets NW These streets will be closed to traffic from about 2:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m.: -- Constitution Avenue between 14th Street and 18th Street NW -- 17th Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and Constitution Avenue NW -- 15th Street between New York Avenue and Constitution Avenue NW -- Pennsylvania Avenue between 14th Street and 15th Street NW -- E Street between 17th and 18th streets NW -- E Street between 14th and 15th streets...
By Robert Thomson | December 7, 2006; 08:13 AM ET | Comments (2)
Gridlock-Fighting Shopping Tips
Some anti-gridlock shopping tips for local travelers, collected from readers and other sources: -- Keep the total number of shopping trips to a minimum. Once you've written out what you want to buy for each person, do a list by shopping zone, so you can make the most of one trip and avoid having to revisit a crowded area. -- Check your gas gauge. It's easy to forget when you're running on holiday Adrenalin. -- After dinner time on the weeknights is a good time to shop. "I do it every year and I've never dealt with crowds, even the week right before Christmas," said one reader. -- Another said: "At Springfield Mall, and at several other malls, every other garage level lines up with a mall entrance. Those levels from which you have to walk up or down steps to get to the entrance are usually empty." -- And:...
By Robert Thomson | December 4, 2006; 08:00 AM ET | Comments (12)
Sharing Holiday Travel Experiences
Fellow Thanksgiving travelers know that there's a curse on Delaware. There's something about that short stretch of I-95 across The First State that finds a way to create trouble for motorists. On Sunday, left Cape Cod at 6 a.m., and had a pretty smooth trip, even clearing the lane merge around Exit 8 on the New Jersey Turnpike with no trouble at 11:15 a.m. (By the way, it worked well for us to stay in the truck lanes, rather than the cars-only lanes, at that merge. There were few trucks, and there is no merge for the right-most lane.) Even the toll plaza at the Delaware Memorial Bridge was a breeze. Then it stopped. Traffic on I-95 was backed up across the entire state of Delaware because of an accident near Elkton, Md. After I tuned in the Delaware Department of Transportation's radio at 1380 AM and learned the cause...
By Robert Thomson | November 27, 2006; 08:12 AM ET | Comments (40)
Seeking Holiday Travel Tips
I've gotten so many good suggestions on detours and alternative routes for those who travel north on I-95, that I thought I'd package them into an advice column for holiday travelers this month. Most of my holiday trips take me to New Jersey, New York and New England, and readers had plenty of advice for dodging stretches of I-95 or ditching it completely for the sake of less traveled and less tolled highways. But I'm wondering if some of you might have suggestions for people traveling to the west and south, as well. What should Washingtonians know if they're headed out I-70 or 81? Or traveling south on I-95? My plan is to try packing a lot of information into an upcoming Dr. Gridlock column on Sunday, Nov. 12, in time for Thanksgiving planning....
By Robert Thomson | November 1, 2006; 06:32 AM ET | Comments (26)
Storm Causes Traffic Delays, Congestion
Today's rain has caused congestion across the region. As the storm continues to pound the area, more delays and closings are expected. "If you need to cross the Bay Bridge, do it now," Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) said in a statement. "Because of the winds associated with this particular storm, they will rise very rapidly, and we may have to close the bridges quickly." For regular updates on traffic around the area, please check the traffic page. Metrorail currently has no weather-related delays. But on its Web site they urge riders to check back regularly. Posted by Sheryl Silverman, washingtonpost.com...
By Sheryl Silverman | September 1, 2006; 11:39 AM ET | Comments (6)
The Backups Begin
It's noontime and that's when the worst of the traffic is expected to start. Sure enough, the roads are starting to jam. A line is forming at the Bay Bridge that'll cause you a little delay right now, but judging by heavy traffic on Route 50 my guess is it's going to start getting bad really soon. The same goes for I-95 in Virginia, where the backups south of Springfield are starting to get severe. Just looking at it on a traffic camera makes me wince. The highway opens up after a few miles, but then clogs again around Woodbridge. The trip from D.C. to Fredericksburg is almost always terrible, so expect that to worsen over the next couple of hours. Avoid Capitol Hill at all costs. Roads have been blocked there because of the reports of gunfire at the Rayburn Building. The outer loop of the Beltway is bad...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 26, 2006; 11:46 AM ET | Comments (1)
Getaway Day
Here it is, boys and girls, the first big getaway weekend of the summer. And, wouldn't you know it, the Wilson Bridge is open this morning to let a ship pass through, which means backups on both shores. Traffic on parts of I-95 south in Virginia are also heavy. It's worth noting that I-95 north looks just fine, which means that everyone's heading out of town and nobody's coming into work. Overall, though, the roads seem eerily quiet so far, an indication either that this afternoon and evening is going to be awful or that everyone has already left town. Or maybe gas prices are too high for people to travel at all. Whatever it is, we'll monitor traffic and update y'all all day here at Get There. So send in your hopes and fears for the day and we'll see what we can do to get you out of...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 26, 2006; 10:15 AM ET | Email a Comment
