Travel home from woods hole, Cape Cod to Phila… but not over GW bridge.—Thanks.

[schafman46]

Hi all .. been on the forum for about 6 yrs & travelled extensively around US & Canadian Maritimes.—Ending 3 weeks in VT and Martha’s Vineyard. Heading back to Phila. But want to avoid GW Bridge.—Hopefully some good alternatives out there from you all!😎—thanks!!

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Well, there's the Holland Tunnel ... yikes ....

Heading a bit further north you can use the Tapan Zee bridge. Some like it better than the GWB. I've had mixed results with both of them. ( = many times the GWB was the better bet). We lived up there for a number of years so I collected a pretty large dataset

The "best" way is to go up through Danbury and cross over on I-84. It's more than a little out of your way.

Bob

[Shiny16]

Put Steward airport in Orange County in your gps. When your crossing the Hudson change the destination to Philly.
How was the Vinyard? We spent 2 weeks in Falmouth last month.

[Silvr_Bullet]

From Cape Cod, RT6-25, I-495, I-90, south to I-84 over Newburgh / Beacon bridge over Hudson River, I-84, Home

[jondrew55]

What's the toll for a motorhome over the GWB these days? $100?

[Shiny16]

Originally Posted by jondrew55

What's the toll for a motorhome over the GWB these days? $100?

Depending on the time of day it could be up to 2 hour of your life plus some cash.

[D44]

Heading westbound there is no charge. The toll is collected coming inbound heading east from NJ.

I second the recommendation to use either the Tappan Zee (Mario Cuomo Bridge) or stay higher and take I-84 over the Newburgh / Beacon Bridge. We just came home from a two-week trip to Glacier NP and went up and around the Tappan Zee to Long Island to avoide the GWB Eastbound on Sunday afternoon.

[milesinmyles]

Did this South Jersey to Cap Cod trip last month. Came home down I90 to I84 to I684 to the Tap Bridge/NY Thruway. From there you can pick up NJ Turnpike or some other route South. Much, much better than I95 down the NE coast.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

One thing to be careful of as you navigate in the NYC area: If a road has "Parkway" in it's name that normally means no trailers. ( Merritt Parkway, Garden State Parkway ....)

Bob

[ppppino]

I was told, no matter what bridge you use, always use the far right lane because that lane is usually wider to accommodate trucks.

Should have paid more attention to that advice. With a brand new at the time (2014), International Serenity in tow, we crossed the Walt Whitman from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. I elected the far left lane because after crossing the bridge, we were going left to join our route.

My approach to the toll booth was just enough off to create a potential disaster. There were concrete barriers between lanes and they were VERY NARROW! Had to send my wife out to tell the car behind us that we we would be BACKING UP! We would have hit the barrier without this correction.

This was after our first hour of towing ever. NEWBIE NIGHTMARE. Take the right lane always.

[schafman46]

Thanks all for mapping ideas—currently thinking of Tappan Zee & onward downward via NY Thruway.. will relay info on Friday😎

[Silvr_Bullet]

The Mario Cuomo Bridge is very close to NYC, if your going South On I-87 you will encounter the Beacon Newburgh bridge many miles before the Mario Cuomo bridge, you’ll pay a hefty toll over MC. The BN bridge is far less expensive, it’s on I-84 and continues on I-84. You may want to review this. The tolls are dependent upon your how many axels you have as is I-87.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inte...–Massachusetts)

[smithcreek]

Originally Posted by Silvr_Bullet

The Mario Cuomo Bridge…

The what? Never heard of it and I’ll definitely never say it![emoji16]

[oldenavy]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

One thing to be careful of as you navigate in the NYC area: If a road has "Parkway" in it's name that normally means no trailers. ( Merritt Parkway, Garden State Parkway ....)

Bob

We learned that the hard way many years ago. Got a $100 ticket & the cop wouldn’t even help us with suggesting an alternate route back to A highway . This was way before GPS and we didn’t have a NY map in the car.

We’ve done both Tappan Zee and I-84 bridges and either route is ok. Did GW bridge by mistake once. Never again!

[milesinmyles]

Bob makes good point about watching out for the parkways. I would add the Hutch to that list as well and there are a few others along your route. The one exception is the Garden State Parkway which allow trailers along the entire length. Trucks are even allowed South of a certain exit. Home Base is JSH Airstream Park in Cape May so I ride the GSP all the time. I would avoid I95 and take the longer route inland via I84/I684. Wider lanes and much less congested.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

The gotcha with some of the "parkways" isn't just the "allow or not", some of them have pretty low clearance at the bridges. I don't remember any that where in the vicinity of 9'. I wasn't particularly worried about that back then so .... who knows ...

I've been cited for pulling a trailer on roads that are only labeled "no trucks". The yada yada being that "everybody knows no trucks means no trailers". The fun aspect there being that you can drive a couple of days to get there in 4 months to talk to the judge about it or you can just pay the fine .... (this was a few states south of NYC so not specific to that area).

Bob

[schafman46]

Well--made it back from Woods Hole to Phila.--took the advice of going west a bit & going over bridge at Newburgh , NY (Rt 84,etc.)---then to Scranton bypass , picked up 380 to Rt. 80 (towards Hazelton, PA) & then Northeast Extension (PA 476) at RT 940 to Phila. suburbs.--excellent route!--Thanks all for advice!!
BTW, Totally avoided 95!!--did not miss it a bit !!