Driving Advice - Baltimore To Raleigh

[cbustapeck]

Tomorrow (Friday) I'm driving from Baltimore to Raleigh, NC, for a wedding. While I think it would be fun to drive the whole way on Route 1, my better half would probably feel otherwise. I'll probably stick to I-95 for the drive from Baltimore to Washington, DC, but after that, I'm not sure.

 

Are there any sections that you might especially recommend?

 

Thank you

 

- Christopher

[DennyG]

I'm driving from Baltimore to Raleigh, NC, for a wedding.

DON'T DO IT!

Oh. It's not your wedding? Than go ahead. I've got no driving advice but don't miss the big acorn downtown.

[usroadman]

Well, once it get a bit out of DC, I've actually found that many times US 1 is faster than I-95, because I-95 constantly backs up between DC and Richmond. Of course many people know that US 1 is a viable alternate, so it can get a bit crowded too. And there is a traffic light in Fredericksburg that seems to back up for miles sometimes, but in general once you're beyond the malls it's good until Fredericksburg, and then from just south of Fredericksburg to almost Richmond it's fine. Generally an old 4-lane road, sometimes divided and sometimes not.

 

It's been a long time since I did the Richmond to Petersburg section, so don't really remember it. Once you get out of Petersburg though, it's 2 or 3 lanes with pretty much no one on it.

 

The good think of course is that since it parallels I-95 and I-85 the whole way (at least until you're in NC, but by then I believe it's the fastest route to Raleigh anyway), if you get tired of the old road you can always hop on the Interstate, or vice versa.