PHL driving route to Lancaster

Once we%26#39;ve picked up the rental car, we%26#39;re driving to Lancaster. Would prefer to take main highways than lesser roads.

AAA suggest two routes, one on the 76 and the other on the 476, both up to King of Prussia.

Does anyone have opinions? Our flight arrives at PHL at 1330, so I%26#39;m guessing it%26#39;ll be about 3pm by the time we actually get on the road (after immigration, customs %26amp; car pickup).

PHL driving route to Lancaster

Hmmm.... really depends on traffic conditions at the time. 476 eventually takes you to 76. In theory, the faster way would be to take I-95 a few miles south to I-476 North to I-76 West to I-276 (Pennsylvania Turnpike) west. But if either of these roads are jammed, it would be faster to connect to I-76 West from the airport. This route takes you just along the outside of downtown Phuiladelphia, and can be interesting, but it can also get jammed.

The trick is to turn your car radio to 1060 AM, KYW before you leave the airport. This is our all news all the time station, and has traffic reports every 10 minutes on the 2s (:02, :12, :22, etc.) Wait for a report before you go. Listen for any bad mentions of:

1. I-95 Southbound from the Airport to Chester, or to the Blue Route

2. The Blue Route northbound (this is I-476)

3. The Schuylkill (skool-kill) Expressway (this is I-76) westbound at any point.

If there is a serious mention of 1 or 2, take I-76 to I-276. Otherwise, take I-95 South toI-476 north, etc. If 1 or 2 AND 3 are mentioned, well, good luck.

And to further confuse/help you...

If the Schuylkill is jammed westbound from Conshohocken to King of Prussia or Valley Forge, stay on I-476 northbound. It, too, connects with the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I-276 (go West), but it is a few miles longer. Check out a map, or Google maps if you don%26#39;t have a printed map.

Note-we do not refer to any road by its number except for I-95.

PHL driving route to Lancaster

Why doesn%26#39;t the poor I-95 get a name?

Thanks. I%26#39;ve only driven round the west coast, where they seem to use the road numbers rather than names. So I%26#39;ll try and memorise the names of these roads ready for the traffic bulletins!

They tried to give it a name, the Delaware Expressway, but it just never caught on. The Schuylkill Expressway runs along a river of the same name, and I-95 runs along the Delaware River, hence the attempted name. The Blue Route is called that because when it was being planned, there were several possible routes, each identified by color. The one that was chosen was the blue route.

Excuse me bumping my own post, but I forgot to say, we%26#39;ll actually be arriving on Labor Day afternoon! So other than busy holiday traffic everywhere, will there still be the rush-hour queues on the 76/476 round Philly?

I%26#39;m also considering a route that avoids Philly completely and takes us south on the 95, turn off and join Baltimore Pike, then up Newport Pike.

Any opinions?

You may hit some traffic from everyone returning from their weekend getaways, but other than that, no rush hour or anything. Even at that, it shouldn%26#39;t really be much on the roads you will be on.

Do NOT do that reroute- it will take you forever. Even rush hour traffic would be faster.

Cheers Owlyn. Knew I could rely on you ...

I see you%26#39;re from Bucks County. Weird. I was born in Bucks County, but the one in England!

wrinkles

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