road trips and mapquest

[randp]

Do you find that mapquest is accurate with time estimations on long trips?

we will be travelling from NJ to VA this summer. the estimate is ~7hrs, but looking at the miles & since it almost all highway, i am hoping it will be closer to 5 1/2 hrs.

what do you think? Thanks!!

[randp]

May 17, 2012 11:05:54 GMT -5 neeps said:

I think, "People still use mapquest?"

I use google maps and it's pretty accurate.

lol. i am pretty behind the times w/technology. i just checked google maps & the time estimate is the same. thanks!

[mdgirl]

Where in New Jersey and where in Virginia? When we lived in Baltimore we drove back and forth to North Jersey a lot, and the traffic in Central Jersey could be insane. And if you have to go anywhere near D.C. that can also be crazy.

[randp]

May 17, 2012 11:47:00 GMT -5 mdgirl said:

Where in New Jersey and where in Virginia? When we lived in Baltimore we drove back and forth to North Jersey a lot, and the traffic in Central Jersey could be insane. And if you have to go anywhere near D.C. that can also be crazy.

central NJ to Virginia beach. i am hoping to leave very early in the morning - like 4am so that my kids (ages 2 & 4) would be sleeping for a portion of the trip.

[osumelissa]

It depends on what day of the week you are going. I'm presuming the directions have you going down I-95 most of the way? Last summer we drove from DC to Virginia Beach on a Friday at 1 pm and it took forever because we got stuck in traffic with every other person who was heading down to the beach and that was in early June! If you can get through the DC area at a reasonable time in the morning, you may not have such bad luck, but then you might get caught in rush hour commuting traffic which can be horrible in this area as well.

I think planning on 7-7.5 hours is probably safe.

[keweenawlove]

If it's mostly highway and (big if here) there's not much traffic involved, I normally just divide the total milage but the ~ speed I'll be going. My total time is normally right in the middle of that and the map quest prediction. I'm in the midwest though which takes traffic out of the equation most of the time.

[iheartrice]

Depending on the day and time, traffic southbound on 95 between DC & Richmond can be a b1tch, adding an hour or so to your drive.

[alithebride]

if you're going on a thursday and/or through monday i'd leave much more time. prime traffic days in the summer.

[zitiqueen]

I'm a www.randmcnally.com gal myself.