Thruway vs. Taconic

[LINYbob]

I picked up a TV at J&R before heading up to K and decided to take the Thruway up from there. Not knowing NJ at all, I somehow made my way from the Holland Tunnel to Rte 17 to the Thruway without a map and of course I refused to pull in anywhere to ask for directions.

Anyway, I kind of liked the Thruway with its 65MPH speed limit and Rte 4 into Rutland also was nice.

Normally I take the Taconic, 295, 22, NY7, VT7 route, although the speeds are lower that way. But I don't like the idea of driving so far west - over the Hudson - to take the Thruway and then having to track back the extra distance at the end.

How would someone get to the Thruway from the GWB, if I decided to do that again? And is the Thruway worth going the extra distance to take? Is it quicker since you can drive faster? I couldn't tell since I drove from NYC and got a little lost in NJ getting to the Thruway. And at the end, I wasn't sure which exit to get off so I drove through downtown Glens Falls and up 9 to 149.

Any advice?

[andyzee]

I picked up a TV at J&R before heading up to K and decided to take the Thruway up from there. Not knowing NJ at all, I somehow made my way from the Holland Tunnel to Rte 17 to the Thruway without a map and of course I refused to pull in anywhere to ask for directions.

Anyway, I kind of liked the Thruway with its 65MPH speed limit and Rte 4 into Rutland also was nice.

Normally I take the Taconic, 295, 22, NY7, VT7 route, although the speeds are lower that way. But I don't like the idea of driving so far west - over the Hudson - to take the Thruway and then having to track back the extra distance at the end.

How would someone get to the Thruway from the GWB, if I decided to do that again? And is the Thruway worth going the extra distance to take? Is it quicker since you can drive faster? I couldn't tell since I drove from NYC and got a little lost in NJ getting to the Thruway. And at the end, I wasn't sure which exit to get off so I drove through downtown Glens Falls and up 9 to 149.

Any advice?

You can take Palisades Parkway.

[skiadikt]

from the gwb, i guess you'd take rt 4 west to rt 17 north or you could take the palisade pkwy and pick up the thruway sooner. i live in nyc and used to go thruway. the thruway has got to be 20 miles longer. we now go the taconic which is much more direct route and imho a shorter ride (10-15 min). the new rt 279 bennington bypass now saves an additional 10 min on the taconic route. at nightime i set the cruise control just below 70. yesterday afternoon we were doing 80.

[SkiDork]

we do GWB -> 4 -> 17N - Thruway.

Even with the Bennington Bypass, the Thruway is quicker time-wise.

With a Suburban, I hate the lower Taconic.

[skiadikt]

Even with the Bennington Bypass, the Thruway is quicker time-wise.

With a Suburban, I hate the lower Taconic.

race ya! gentlemen start your engines!

we finally got ottojay to convert this year and he can't believe he was wasting all that time driving through new jersey for all those years. he thinks the taconic is lot faster by maybe 15 min.

the lower taconic doesn't bother me on the way up, but admittedly on a sunday night when i'm a bit bleary-eyed afer skiing all day and 3 hrs of driving it's does get a bit tough.

[Bubba]

I've made the Killington to NY trip so many times I think I'll be able to do it after I die. From my experience:

If you start out on the west side of the Hudson, take the Thruway.

The fastest good weather, daylight, route from Westchester, the Whitestone or Throgs Neck Bridge is the Hutch - 684 - 84 - Taconic route. At night or in bad weather, take the Thruway or go through CT and up 91.

If you start on the west side of the Hudson and hit the Albany area after about 9:30 PM, and in good weather, take 787 to 7 toward Bennington, the new bypass and Rt. 7 to Rutland.

In bad weather, stick with the most travelled routes, whether that be through NY via 149 to 4 or through CT, MA, to 103/100.

Dork - you go through NJ to get cheaper gas, but it's not the fastest route. I don't blame you for hating the lower Taconic - unless you drive a sports car, it's awful - but you avoid it by taking the Hutch to 684 to 84 west, which happens to be faster anyway.

[pizzamoose]

from the GWB, in order of speed.
fastest: 4 to 17 to thruway

when 17 is backed up you can bail out as follows: 4 to 17 to GSP to thruway

If you're already on 4 and you hear or see that 17 is backed up, you can stay on 4, then go to 208 to 287 to the thruway. This is good because sometimes 17 is bad enough to back up 4 from the ramp.

when 4 is backed up: Palisades pkwy to thruway.

the traffic on 17 usually opens up after paramus, but it can slow down again in mahwah on a friday afternoon. there's a bottleneck there where 17, 287, and 87 come together, and 17 takes the brunt of it as the two right lanes end, and the left lane leads you onto the thruway SOUTH if you don't move to the left of it after the merge with 287. that can be a drag - but don't try to take streets through suffern because you'll have a lot of company if you do, and you'll end up taking more time.


when approaching the george, I like the harlem river drive. if that's backed up, I usually go to the west side hwy if i can. if both are backed up (and if so, the deegan is almost definitely backed up), you can take the streets as follows: pick a street, take it to st. nicholas ave, and follow that up to the intersection with amsterdam ave. follow amsterdam past the bride, and turn RIGHT (not left) at a marked ramp about 100 yards north of the bridge's underpass. that'll loop you around and put you right on it. This was a lifesaver for me when i was working with the nyc board of education..

From the lincoln tunnel, I usually do 3 to 17.. there are a few lights that way though. You could do the NJT to 80 Local to (17 or GSP), but unless there's traffic on 17 south of 80, that always seems slower.

[LINYbob]

The lower Taconic is brutal and I avoid it by going I95->287->684->84->Taconic. Even from I84 up to about Columbia County, it is not that great. Once you hit Columbia County, it gets wider and less curvy, but by then, you're getting ready to get off.

Talk about doing this trip so many times. Last night coming back to LI, I was on such autopilot that I got onto I95 and only then realized how close I was to home! I got off the Taconic at I84, and then kind of went on autopilot until I hit 95. Kind of scary, but I was paying attention to the traffic, just not to signs.


Dork:

Doesn't paying the GWB toll and Thruway toll kind of cancel out the benefit of getting cheaper gas in NJ, if that's why you go that way?

[BigKahuna13]

Have never done the taconic route. Will have to try that one of the these days.

I either go hutch - 684 - 84 - thruway or hutch - merritt - 91.
Lately it's been the latter. From huntington the 84-thruway route is 314 miles, while the Merritt-91 combo works out to 287 miles. With no traffic door to door via Merritt-91 it's 4.5 hours.

[SkiDork]

Dork:

Doesn't paying the GWB toll and Thruway toll kind of cancel out the benefit of getting cheaper gas in NJ, if that's why you go that way?

Yes, it probably does. But we prefer that route over all others, so it helps vs. not getting cheaper gas.

[BrockVond]

How would someone get to the Thruway from the GWB, if I decided to do that again?

I always take fdr to palisades pkwy to thruway. After years of trial and error, I've found it consistently the best way to go up to K. People I've driven up with complain that palisades is only 55mph speed limit, but a) everyone does 70 b) it's only 15 miles you're on it before you hit the thruway.

btw, on return trip home to Manhattan I always make my way to Holland Tunnel since you can cut through Jersey City at Grand Street.

[borgy]

Take the Palisades all the way up PAST the Thruway to route 6 West. Go over the hill to Central Valley and you end up at the Harriman Exit toll booths. This way bypasses all the congestion at the 287/87/17 merge which can be murder on a Friday night. I leave from Englewood NJ and so far that is the best way. IMHO.

[pizzamoose]

Take the Palisades all the way up PAST the Thruway to route 6 West. Go over the hill to Central Valley and you end up at the Harriman Exit toll booths. This way bypasses all the congestion at the 287/87/17 merge which can be murder on a Friday night. I leave from Englewood NJ and so far that is the best way. IMHO.

that is actually a good idea, but it would be slower on non-traffic days, which is actually most of the time.

[DMC]

Take the Palisades all the way up PAST the Thruway to route 6 West. Go over the hill to Central Valley and you end up at the Harriman Exit toll booths. This way bypasses all the congestion at the 287/87/17 merge which can be murder on a Friday night. I leave from Englewood NJ and so far that is the best way. IMHO.

that is actually a good idea, but it would be slower on non-traffic days, which is actually most of the time.

It can also be a disaster if you get caught up in all the outlet shoppers leaving of going...

[borgy]

Take the Palisades all the way up PAST the Thruway to route 6 West. Go over the hill to Central Valley and you end up at the Harriman Exit toll booths. This way bypasses all the congestion at the 287/87/17 merge which can be murder on a Friday night. I leave from Englewood NJ and so far that is the best way. IMHO.

that is actually a good idea, but it would be slower on non-traffic days, which is actually most of the time.[/quote]

Non-traffic most of the time?? Maybe at 3am.

The alternative is 4/17 and there IS traffic most of the time.