OK this weekend I am making the drive from Southern Maryland to Old Lyme, CT.
I REALLY want to avoid driving the GW Bridge due the fact it drives me insane with a car never mind with a truck & trailer.
Can I take a truck & trailer up the Garden State Parkway, or is that a negative?
What is alternative routes through the NJ/NY area. I don’t mind getting on 95 once I am through the NY junk.
I may be a little fuzzy because it has been a while but I did the Philly to Boston thru CT drive a bazillion times in college and never once took the GW and made about as good a time as you can on that drive. This may or may not be the best route based on your specific start and end points (i.e., I cannot remember where in Old Lyme is in relation to 84) but I think it is worth looking at.
This is my recollection of the route:
NJ Turnpike to Garden State (don’t see why you couldn’t take a trailer on it as long as it is not a big rig)
Get off at 287/87- cross that bridge
and pretty soon after it get off on the Saw Mill Parkway
Take the Saw Mill to 684
Take 684 to 84 and get off 84 somewhere near Old Lyme 
Just an FYI- the Saw Mill is kind of windy but it is definitely better than the GW and should not be a problem with a trailer
If you want to be on 95 in CT I think you can stay on 287 after the bridge and drop down to 95- it takes you a bit north out of your way (not sure how much) but it is a much less stressful route IMO than the GW(especially if you can fit it in between rush hours which used to be doable- stay away from 84 and Hartford during rush hour- ick!)
Thankfully we are just going to Old Lyme, CT and not Hartford.
Garden State Parkway
Saw Mill River and ALL other NY Parkways
Off Limits to trucks and trailers. NY Parkways also have really bad entrances/exits for trailers.
Not sure how to tell you to go, but NOT on a parkway
Stay on NJ Turnpike to Exit 10 to 287 North.
Follow 287 into NY- then over Tapenzee Bridge heading East.
Stay on 287 East until you hit 684 North (if going N/central CT) or 95N if going South CT.
DiablosHalo is right. You will avoid the GW if you take the Tapanzee, and I-95 will take you right into Old Lyme. I-84 will not do the job here, and instead will take you into Hartford.
Once you get to Delaware you can get on 95 North to rt 202 to route 287.
Horse trailers are common on these roads. I don’t know if its the fast way, though.
Garden State Parkway does not have a ban on horse trailers per se
they do, however, have a ban on certain sized commercial vehicles and i heard that this ban actually extends to certain sized personal vehicles as well but the cops clearly don’t enforce it since i see everything from full sized vans and trucks through hummers and full sized SUV’s on there.
if i were traveling in a non commercial rig i’d take 95 to NJ Turnpike to the GSP to the Tappan Zee. if you have a commercial rig or one that’s really large, follow directions given by diabloshalo.
OH no… do NOT take Rt 202 in Delaware to 287.
Rt 202 is nothing but red lights and such. And it’s 2 hours from 287??
95N over DE Memorial Bridge to NJTP to exit 10 as above…
I dont like George Washington Bridge NOR TappenZee. I find Tappenzee worse, much much worse then GW Bridge.
(The trick to GW is to take the LOCAL rather than the express route. You can cut back over the Express at the last minute)
Personally I’d take newburgh/beacon bridge (mid hudson bridge off of route 84).
and google map from there.
I find a longer, but less stressful route (meaning not sitting stop and go and less crowded) worth it.
Trailers ok on GSP
Can’t give you a route but as of 2007 trailers are allowed on the Garden State Pkwy up to 55’ long. I think that is total vehicle and trailer length.
[QUOTE=DiablosHalo;5214237]
Stay on NJ Turnpike to Exit 10 to 287 North.
Follow 287 into NY- then over Tapenzee Bridge heading East.
Stay on 287 East until you hit 684 North (if going N/central CT) or 95N if going South CT.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=Chief2;5214435]DiablosHalo is right. You will avoid the GW if you take the Tapanzee, and I-95 will take you right into Old Lyme. I-84 will not do the job here, and instead will take you into Hartford.[/QUOTE] This is what I would recommend as well. (Currently living in NJ, used to live in Hartford, worked in New Haven, and have family in D.C. and CT, so I’m very familiar with the route! Haven’t driven it with a trailer, but I definitely prefer 287 and the Tappan Zee.)
This.
If you can time your trip to avoid rush hour/peak times, all the better.
[QUOTE=DiablosHalo;5214237]
Stay on NJ Turnpike to Exit 10 to 287 North.
Follow 287 into NY- then over Tapenzee Bridge heading East.
Stay on 287 East until you hit 684 North (if going N/central CT) or 95N if going South CT.[/QUOTE]
OK. I got the day that I am expected up there. OF course it is not the weekend. They can’t take him until Monday.
I will go this route and spend most of the night driving. Rest stops are big enough that I can pull the trailer in and take a cat nap/give horse some water and so on. My trailer is big enough that he can stretch a bit. I can take out the center part and it is as big as a box stall.
That is the route I go (I live about 10 mins south of Old Lyme), depending on where you are in MD, i"d guess its a 6-8 hour drive w/ trailer. Once you hit the TappanZee there isn’t much of a rest stop for a couple of hours (I try to fill up before then). Safe travels.
It takes me an hour just to get to the Beltway. I am pretty far down in the southern stretch of MD. Where I am, we have the bay, potomac river, and paxtuxent river around us.
Whether or not the NJParkway takes trailers is moot. That Rte is way out of your way. The NJTurnpike is the way to go to get to 287 to NY.
Happy traveling!
Hello DiabosHalo, If I am traveling to Yale University from Silver Spring, MD, do I stay on 95 N? Thank you
If you come across the Tapanzee, just stay on 287 east until it ends and puts you onto I-95 North going into CT. If you come across the GWB, just keep going straight on 95, aka Cross Bronx, aka Connecticut Turnpike. Just keep following the signs to New Haven, CT. Is it a nasty stretch of road, but it is well marked.
Do not get onto the Hutchinson River Parkway or Merrit Parkway or anything called Parkway in NY or CT. Trailers are not allowed.
Personally, from MD I’d just go I-95 to NJ Turnpike and then resume I-95 after you cross the GWB. It’s a lot of tolls but the most direct route.
Old Lyme is exit 70 off I-95. It is on the coast, nowhere near Hartford. It’s about 30 minutes after New Haven. OP should go I-95 all the way. Also she cannot go on the Sawmill with a trailer. It’s a Parkway.
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