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-   -   93 or 95? (https://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12550)

cillovely 07-11-2011 01:02 PM

93 or 95?
 
Just wondering which route would be best for coming up south of Boston to Alton for my week vacation. If I mapquest it, it gives me the route 95 to Spaulding turnpike route as the shortest. Last year we stayed in Meredith, so 93 was the best bet.

Any opinions?

I don't care about tolls, just getting stuck traffic for hours. Naturally where we are renting we are coming up early Saturday afternoon, prime time for the traffic to get hairy.

Thanks

jmen24 07-11-2011 01:19 PM

Fastest/shortest route = traffic. Always

If you would like to take a nice drive up that includes some very scenic roads (not back roads all state roads) then I would come up 95, to 16 north (spaulding), get off on 202 west, travel until I hit 126 north/west (take that, it is in Barrington), this will bring you through Strafford into Barnstead and will drop you about 10 min south of the Alton Traffic circle on Rt.28.

Nice ride (cooler air temp and nice views), no tourist traffic (keeps the blood pressure down so Vaca starts off on a good note) and is a nice change of pace.

Look it up on google maps the difference from Boston to Alton (at the bay) is 1 hour 48 minutes your way up 16 vs 2 hours 7 minutes my way off the beaten path.

I created the comparison, but am better with directions than computers, so it did not work out when the links were posted. Google maps will try to send you up Rt 9 from 16, don't do that, it will add more time than it will cut off for distance.

Just a locals perspective on driving around the weekend traffic to go to the same general area.

AC2717 07-11-2011 01:22 PM

Where south of Boston are you heading from?

always found the best route to be RT 95 to Burlington, get on Rt 3 towards Nashua and stay on that and it turns into Everett Turnpike ($1 toll) then stay straight through MAnchester, meet up with Rt 93 before the hooksett Tolls, and boom you are in concord then go from there any mutliple routes

Charlie T 07-11-2011 02:17 PM

Best Route from Boston
 
I too live South of Boston. I normally drive up to the lake via Rt 93 instead of 95. HOWEVER if you are driving up this weekend stay as far away from 93 as you can. I believe there is a Nascar event at the NHMS in Louden and traffic in the 93 area will be backed up forever. When I go to the lake on Nascar weekends I always drive via 95 with relatively few issues.

YMMV

Good Luck

Charlie T

LIforrelaxin 07-11-2011 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie T (Post 162675)
I too live South of Boston. I normally drive up to the lake via Rt 93 instead of 95. HOWEVER if you are driving up this weekend stay as far away from 93 as you can. I believe there is a Nascar event at the NHMS in Louden and traffic in the 93 area will be backed up forever. When I go to the lake on Nascar weekends I always drive via 95 with relatively few issues.

YMMV

Good Luck

Charlie T

I am always around the Lake NASCAR weekend... with the exception of Sunday night when everyone is heading home right after the race, there is never a problem on 93, that is any worse then any other weekend.

Now on Saturday when heading to the lake, the big question is what time will you be heading up? if it is first thing in the morning, well then that can be rough.... however it is to get there in the mid afternoon, like most rentals to get in, I would say head up 95, grab 16, and then get off in Rochester and head up 11, which will bring you into Alton.

Merrymeeting 07-12-2011 07:34 AM

I've been traveling both ways for many, many, years. In the end, there isn't much difference. We usually make the decision based on any stops we may want to make along the way.

Merrymeeting Lake does not have a road that goes completely around the lake (thankfully!). It's a classic "can't get theah' from heah'". Sometimes we want to approach the lake via Farmington/Wolfeboro (King's Highway). If so, we use 95.

Other times we want to come in via Alton, so we use 93 or Rt 3 (fwiw, I recommend the latter) to Rt 28.

Both ways are within 5 miles total distance, and about the same time.

cillovely 07-12-2011 08:42 AM

Thanks!
 
Thank you all for your advice. I am not coming up until the last week in July so I won't hit any NASCAR issues.

I live in Dedham, basically right on 95 but spent a few years living close to Chelmsford/Lowell, so the route 3 from Burlington up to Manchester route is something I've done many times and not really wanting to do so again.


I might do 95 up and then see how it goes since I haven't gone that way in a long time. And then coming home flip a coin.

joann721 07-12-2011 09:58 AM

we drive from the north shore of boston every friday evening... the first year we came to Meredith we always came 128 to 93 north to exit 23- and the drive was painful - the traffic from Wilmington all the way to where the road opens up to four lanes was stop and go... We then found out about 95 north to exit 4 in portsmouth than exit 15 off of rte 16 towards alton - following it until rte 11 the mileage is almost identical for us. But the difference in time and frustation is priceless...

Steveo 07-12-2011 11:56 AM

95
 
I would recommend 95 since 93 gets so much traffic on Friday afternoon at exit 1 in Salem. 95 has greatly improved since they got the high speed fast-pass. The only bad spots are in Newington going by the mall and the construction in Rochester. Both of those will be much improved when construction is done next year.

songkrai 07-17-2011 02:42 PM

Route 95 is best.

Pineedles 07-17-2011 05:46 PM

Route 93 is best.

Lucky1 07-17-2011 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cillovely (Post 162665)
Just wondering which route would be best for coming up south of Boston to Alton for my week vacation. If I mapquest it, it gives me the route 95 to Spaulding turnpike route as the shortest. Last year we stayed in Meredith, so 93 was the best bet.

Any opinions?

I don't care about tolls, just getting stuck traffic for hours. Naturally where we are renting we are coming up early Saturday afternoon, prime time for the traffic to get hairy.

Thanks

Why not come earlier .....Saturday morning instead of early afternoon. You can stop for lunch near to your rental and then arrive at your destination and have missed a lot of the traffic!!!


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