I live in Crofton, about 12 miles east of DC and I need help on choosing the best route to NC.

I need to drive to NC for Thanksgiving and I'm trying to decide if I should go 50W/495S/95S/295S around the dc beltway and past Alexandria and Lorton or should I go 301S/95S/295S down past Waldorf and King George?

The gf wants to leave right after work on Wed at 4pm and sit in traffic instead of leaving at 4am on Thanksgiving so I'm trying to find the best way down to avoid traffic. I usually take the 301 route but I've heard the extra lanes south of DC really help. I'm also worried about the 1 lane bridge going south on 301.

 

no matter what way you go i would be very careful if you are taking 95 south to the NC border because the cops there will pull anyone over and give them a ticket the name of the that town in Emporia. I warn all my guys that work for me about it and at least one every holiday season gets a ticket from there! Drive safe bro

 

I drive the opposite all the time heading into DC for Thanksgiving and I can tell you the traffic is terrible on 95 south. I would recommend you avoid the beltway and hook up with 95 at Springfield. From there, just go about 4 miles then get onto route 1 at Woodbridge. Take 1 south all the way to 295. It's a slower speed limit (35-55) and there are traffic lights, but once you get past Fredricksburg there almost nothing on it. With all the traffic on 95, you'll have a much less frustrating drive.

 

My thoughts would be to wait until 6 pm. I would imagine you wouldn't get any farther with traffic and you won't waste gas sitting on a highway.

 

good advice, that's what I do........I avoid the beltway as if it was the mother-in-law

 

It's actually even worse at 6pm up there. If you wait 'til then, you're not moving at all. At least at 4 you can get towards the front of that long line. Done it many, many times.

 

95 South is fine once you're south of Fredericksburg, but I'd avoid it at all costs from there North. You can hit it at 5 am on a weekday and it'll be a parking lot.

And x2 on Emporia. That whole county sucks ***. It's a dry county and everyone there's pent up and ****ty. The cops there are about the worst in the state. I did some construction at a prison near there and had a local cop pull me over for "speeding" for doing 46 in a 45.

 

Thanks for all the tips guys. I used this route and left at 8pm. No traffic and made the trip in 8 hours with a 45 min stop for food and gas.