Suggestions - Traveling back from Pennsylvania
 

Need some suggestions on one part of my trip traveling back from Allentown Pennsylvania. I will be traveling back on Monday President Day holiday, and want to avoid the traffice as much as possible. I suspect there will be a lot of traffic crossing at the Tappan Zee bridge going East and would like to avoid. Seen this many times and been stuck in traffic up to an hour ! :(

Would it be better for me to take I-87 North in Suffren NY, then pick I-84 East crossing the Hudson River in 'Newburgh NY', or cross the Hudson river at the Tappan Zee bridge ?

Not sure of the difference in time or mileage taking this route versus
crossing Tappan Zee, but I know there's a huge difference in traffic
volumne caused by backup to pay Toll at bridge.

Again, I'll be traveling on the Monday holiday. Any suggestions would be appreciated !

Thanks!

Leave early enough to be on Tappan Zee by noon.
From there, do you travel northeast, to where - Lakes Region?

I'd bet that from Brewster, NY/Danbury, CT you'd have no issues as traffic will be leaving the ski/snow sport areas.

Next best advice is to get an EZ Pass account/tag. OF COURSE, then use the EZ Pass only lanes. If you use a NH address for the account, you get 30% discount on the NH tolls.

If you take 84 through PA/NY, you won't need to go over the Tappan Zee.

Stupid of me! I agree, with 84 - did it long time ago.

Traveling back
 

Taking 84 through PA and NY isn't all that bad, BUT, then you have to take it through CT and that IS bad, west of Hartford. East of Hartford, and on up through Mass Pike and eventually 495 and 93 will get you to the center of NH quite easily. However, with holiday, school vacation, and the possibility of weather, all bets are off. Good Luck.

PS: Once you get back to NH breathe the fresh air and enjoy the scenary, everything else will fade away.

Don't have a map in front of me and this is from memory...but if traveling eastbound on I-84 into Hartford, you might go north on I-91 through Mass. into NH up to exit 8, I think. Run east on Rt-11 through Claremont all the way to Tilton and the Lakes region.

Or, stay on I-91 to Lebanon, NH; no exit number but big "getoff sign" and follow Rt-4 to 104 into New Hampton (which brings you to exit 23, I-93, and follow 104 into Meredith or...:)

Nice scenic routes!

OOOPs!

I should have read the thread more carefully, but may of use in the future.

If your south/west bound than the same suggestions as prior, except on I-84 go into NY and then into PA and go south in the Scranton area, e.g.,380 down to Easton...Allenstown area!

Traveling back from Pennsylvania
 

OK folks, here's my feedback about my trip to PA and back to MA last weekend.

I decided to take some advice going to PA, and took I-91S out of E.Hartford to Meriden CT where I picked upi the Merritt Parkway. I believe I got on this road Friday morning around 1030am, after the commuting traffic. As far as traffic, it was non-existent ! Timing is everything they say, and I suspect that during the commuting hours this road could be difficult.

This was the first time I traveled the 'Merritt', and found it a friendly and beautiful road, with no trucks to contend with... Compared to I-84 and I-95, no comparisn, this will be the only road I'll take in the future. The road rambles along through the countryside, under many bridges, and even a tunnel. It was an enjoyable experience.

Took the Merritt to White Plains, then over the Tappan Zee bridge around noon, without any delay. After that we took I-287S to I-78 into Allentown. Didn't see much road construction to speak of the entire trip on this course.

Coming home Monday however, we hit rain in White Plains, so we decided
to stay off the 'Merritt' as suggested, and traveled I-684N, I-84N, I-91N, then back on I-84N up through Sturbridge MA. This part of the trip was very boring, and made difficult with the rain factor.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions, much appreciated !

Glad you made it!
 

Bigdog,

I'm glad to hear you liked the Merritt. We went up that way on Sat. and came back to NJ on it Tuesday. No traffic either time - we made it from Clifton NJ to Alton (305 miles) and return in 5 1/2 hours with 20 min. lunch stops each way. Yes, the Merritt can be terrible at rush hour if you are heading with the traffic, but if you are going north in the morning or south in the afternoon, you can usually do the speed limit while the other side is crawling. You could have taken the Merritt even if it was rainy, they don't have flooding problems and I've never had trouble in rain when I headed to NH in the summer. The road to avoid if it's raining is the Saw Mill River Parkway which is the road I used to take before we saw how great the Merritt was. The Saw Mill cuts about 8 miles off the 684/84 route, but when it rained it would flood in 3 sections going through Pleasantville and then you still had the boring ride on 84 from Danbury to Hartford.

roads
 

When we started going to Nh we used to go from upstate NY and take Mass Pike to 290-495-3-293-93 that was boooooring

Then we started taking 84 all the way from 684 to the Mass Pike to exit 10 and then the same way as before.

Now we take 95 to exit 27A then that road ( forgot name) to the Merritt then Rt91 to 84 to Mass Pike and then same as before. Since we go Sunday at 530am we get there in 5 hrs and 20 mins.