Get There Archive: holiday travel
Today's read: a holiday driving prediction
More driving this holiday season: That's what AAA predicts. The travel organization pointed to a longtime trend in which air travel continues to decline as a percentage of total Thanksgiving travel. Since 2000, the number of Americans traveling by air during the Thanksgiving weekend has dropped 62 percent. (Sholnn Freeman) I'm writing up some suggestions about the holiday getaway for drivers, to appear on Sunday's Commuter page in The Post, and I plan to post some blog entries combining the advice I get from travel experts and officials with the advice I've gotten from you. I collect the getaway advice you send to me at drgridlock@washpost.com, here on the blog and on our new discussion group, called Taken for a Ride. The holiday time drives get to be something of an obsession with me and my readers. I get inquiries all the time about best routes and best times to...
By
Robert Thomson
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November 19, 2009; 8:46 AM ET |
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Categories:
Getaway
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holiday travel
| Tags: Dr. Gridlock, Today's Read
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Join discussion on getaway routes
Over on our new transportation forum, called Taken for a Ride, I'm asking for travelers to help me help other travelers. Please come over and offer your advice about alternatives to the main escape routes from Washington, the best times to travel and what drivers should look for along the way. On the long, winding holiday road again. I do this every fall: Collect advice from experienced travelers, combine it with my own recommendations and offer the combined wisdom here on the blog and on the Commuter page in The Post Metro section. See last year's edition here....
By
Robert Thomson
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November 17, 2009; 9:00 AM ET |
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Categories:
Getaway
,
holiday travel
| Tags: Dr. Gridlock, Taken for a Ride
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Talking Thanksgiving travel, 2009 edition
Each November, I pull together the most recent information from highway departments and from travelers into blog and newspaper advice for the holiday getaway. One of the questions that came in during our Monday online chat got me started on this year's edition. Silver Spring, Md.: "Too soon to ask about Thanksgiving? I'm headed, as always, for the Penn. Turnpike. Top of the Beltway to 270 to 70 to Breezewood. But here's the thing: 70 is a bear all the way to Hagerstown on getaway days. Don't know what the big deal is about Hagerstown (I used to think it was the Premium Outlets, but the traffic issue persists even when they must be closed), but there it is. So when, do you think, is the best time to split? It's a question of +/- going to work on Wednesday; if I do, I'll be set free a little early,...
By
Robert Thomson
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November 3, 2009; 11:52 AM ET |
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Categories:
Getaway
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holiday travel
| Tags: Dr. Gridlock
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Before the Summer Travel Memories Fade . . .
An overnight trip back to Washington from Cape Cod reminded me of the advice you travelers so often give when we discuss vacation routes: It's not so much the route you take. It's the time you take it. I did the basic I-95 route -- with some standard deviations -- but left from Cape Cod at 12:22 a.m., arriving back here at 8:46 a.m. That meant it was a breeze through Connecticut and across Westchester County, NY, to the Tappan Zee Bridge and down the Garden State Parkway to the New Jersey Turnpike and across Delaware on I-95. (There wasn't even a slowdown at the Delaware toll plaza. But, of course, traffic built up on I-95 north of the Baltimore Beltway, though the Fort McHenry Tunnel toll plaza was not a problem. Things looked bad on I-95 north of Washington, so we cut over onto Route 29. That wasn't bad...
By
Robert Thomson
|
September 8, 2009; 1:19 PM ET |
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Categories:
Driving
,
Getaway
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holiday travel
| Tags: Dr. Gridlock, vacation routes
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What's Ahead on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Temporary closures of the Bay Bridge's westbound span continue during off-peak, overnight hours as construction crews finalize preparations for the last phase of the westbound re-decking effort. Drivers can expect temporary steel roadway plates to be placed across the westbound lanes as early as Sept. 9 so the bridge can fully reopen to traffic each morning following overnight construction. Due to the Labor Day holiday, closures of the westbound span are scheduled only for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights this week. After Labor Day, weather and traffic volumes permitting, the westbound span could close nightly Monday through Saturday as early as 8 p.m., with all lanes reopened by morning rush hour (later openings permitted on weekends). Drivers arriving at the bridge after 8 p.m. should expect delays. Eastbound parapet repairs continue during overnight hours, with one eastbound lane closing Sundays from 9 p.m. to midnight and full eastbound span closures...
By
Ashley Halsey
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August 31, 2009; 12:39 PM ET |
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Categories:
Congestion
,
Construction
,
holiday travel
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Metro ridership record for July Fourth
More riders used the Metro Saturday than on any previous July Fourth. The agency announced this morning that ridership was 631,206, surpassing the record set last year for the holiday by 32,308. While customers complained about long waits to get on trains, this was expected and many felt the system handled the surge in traffic remarkably well. Besides a smoke incident on the Green Line late Saturday that forced the use of a single track for 40 minutes, the system moved relatively smoothly. See Metro's announcement here....
By
James Hohmann
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July 6, 2009; 12:38 PM ET |
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Categories:
Metro
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holiday travel
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