Josh Hendy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2007
81/77 is our favorite route to get to FL from ON. The traffic on I-95 everywhere north of the NC/VA border is simply terrible. I remember once we were heading north on I-95 and stayed on it right through NC because we were visiting DC on the way home. NC was fine, but crossing from NC into VA it was like somebody turned on a switch - suddenly we were in heavy, heavy traffic and it stayed that way all the way to the metro station outside of DC. Whereas I-95 from the Carolinas south to Daytona where you turn off for Orlando is a breeze.
We've also been on I-95 for a short stretch in PA-DE when heading south to the DE-MD beaches and it's also like a solid wall of vehicles across something like 10 lanes of traffic.
The shortcomings of I-81 are that it can be quite hilly in PA and the asphalt can be a bit rough and bumpy. Having only 2 lanes in each direction you sometimes have to tangle with 18-wheelers and RVs either crawling uphill or charging downhill like a bat out of H-E-hockeysticks. There is another quite hilly section on I-81 in the southern part of VA where we had to get around a lot of trucks which were struggling up the grades.
The only stressful part of I-77 that I recall was around Charlotte where it cuts close to the center of town. You get some heavy traffic and those nasty "big city" exit ramps that are quite short and where the on- and off-ramps are close together, with lots of cars and trucks veering on and off the highway at high speed. But compared to the BosNYWash corridor on I-95 it's nothing.
The scenery in the VA part of I-81 (blue ridge and Shenandoah valley) is quite pretty, and the descent off the ridge on I-77 down onto the piedmont of NC is remarkable. If you have extra time I highly recommend taking a scenic detour on the Blue Ridge parkway which runs parallel to I-81. You can jump on and off almost anywhere and just a 2-hour side trip on a fine day is well worth the trouble. Just remember to drive very slowly and cautiously on the parkway, because if you don't then you're going to run into someone who *is* driving slowly.
We've also been on I-95 for a short stretch in PA-DE when heading south to the DE-MD beaches and it's also like a solid wall of vehicles across something like 10 lanes of traffic.
The shortcomings of I-81 are that it can be quite hilly in PA and the asphalt can be a bit rough and bumpy. Having only 2 lanes in each direction you sometimes have to tangle with 18-wheelers and RVs either crawling uphill or charging downhill like a bat out of H-E-hockeysticks. There is another quite hilly section on I-81 in the southern part of VA where we had to get around a lot of trucks which were struggling up the grades.
The only stressful part of I-77 that I recall was around Charlotte where it cuts close to the center of town. You get some heavy traffic and those nasty "big city" exit ramps that are quite short and where the on- and off-ramps are close together, with lots of cars and trucks veering on and off the highway at high speed. But compared to the BosNYWash corridor on I-95 it's nothing.
The scenery in the VA part of I-81 (blue ridge and Shenandoah valley) is quite pretty, and the descent off the ridge on I-77 down onto the piedmont of NC is remarkable. If you have extra time I highly recommend taking a scenic detour on the Blue Ridge parkway which runs parallel to I-81. You can jump on and off almost anywhere and just a 2-hour side trip on a fine day is well worth the trouble. Just remember to drive very slowly and cautiously on the parkway, because if you don't then you're going to run into someone who *is* driving slowly.
We were hesitant the first time we drove down on 81/77 so we quick switched to 95 and ended up in so much traffic. The past two times, we've driven down and back on 81/77 and it's been great. Yes there are more hills, but nothing outrageously steep-- it's on interstates, after all.
