Cure Your Shore Traffic Headache
By PAT DOLENTE
Updated 3:33 PM EST, Wed, Jul 22, 2009
Congratulations! You made it to Memorial Day. Summer is finally here. Gone is the cold, wet and dreary winter and soon hot, sunny summer days will be upon us. But there is always a price to be paid for return of the sun and the unavoidable trek to the shore that occurs. We are, of course, talking about-- traffic.
There is no worse feeling than getting your stuff all packed up, cruising on the road for a bit, only to reach a top of a hill and see what might as well be a parking lot on I-95. Potentially you could crawl on the various highways for hours and finally reach your shore destination cranky, hungry and tired.
And because the economy is in the crapper, traffic may get even worse because vacationers are forecasted to stay closer to home – i.e., the Jersey Shore.
But all hope is not lost. Here are some ways to help you get to the shore without ruining your trip before it really starts.
Embrace the inevitable.
The only way there will be no more shore traffic on the road is if we wind up living in Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road,” so don’t freak out when things get backed up. Use this time to listen to that new album you just downloaded. Or don’t steal, and tune into the Phillies game on 1210AM (or on 610AM Sundays) to help pass the time.
Pick your exit time wisely.
The saying "the early bird catches the worm" fits well into this situation. Try packing the night before and leaving home a lot earlier than you would leave for work. This way you avoid not only the shore people, but also those saps who aren’t going to the beach. Bring a bag of rolls and fill a cooler with ice, snacks, drinks and some deli meats and cheeses. This way when you get down to your destination of choice you don’t have to leave the beach to eat and you can wait around until check-in time.
Or do just the opposite. If you can’t get on the road before the rest of the masses, try waiting it out. Come home from work, eat some dinner and relax before the drive. The benefit of this is that you can check out live traffic updates on our Web site and see which way to go.
Go the road less traveled.
Be smart about which path you take. The Schuylkill Expressway is almost always guaranteed to give you a headache, but then again so is the Walt Whitman Bridge. Depending on where you live, there may be a way to skip over a lot of traffic by going a back way. Google Maps helps a lot with this because you can drag and change what direction you want to take to your final destination.
Weather watch.
If the weather is going to be 80 degrees and sunny, there’s going to be more people on the road. If the forecast says it might rain all weekend, people will get scared and stay away. Doing a little research on your own could also pay off. Say for instance, a graphic says rain, but it’s only a 30 percent chance, if you head down anyway, you might just get lucky.
First Published: May 21, 2009 1:44 PM EST
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