George Washington Bridge

[obedb]

I read yesterday that the GW is the busiest vehicle bridge in the world. It is owned by the NY/NJ Port Authority. I am sure that towing wrecks and breakdowns off of the bridge is done under contract. Imagine your Allison transmission equipped unit needs to be towed off of the bridge. The police are there and order the tow driver to get it off of the bridge NOW. Or perhaps the driver is poorly trained and does not know how to drop the drive shaft anyway.

Keep  your GPS systems programmed for the Tappan Zee bridge. You too, Bill. 😎. There are plenty of ways to avoid the Big Apple  area on your trip to Maine.

[jleamont]

Great advice! To add;

I-95 will cross this bridge, you will need to ignore your GPS, for some reason they are all programmed to send you over this bridge. Beyond the mess of entrances and exits every few feet the tolls are very expensive and its just a confusing mess to navigate not to mention it is in serious need of a new surface.

Personally, I cross the Hudson on I-84 out in the country, my last trip over the Tappan Zee bridge wasn't very enjoyable. 

[wildebill308]

Left Main and am in RI. The way GPS tricked me (all was look at a rout on a real map) was It kept refusing to get off I-95 north. I kept trying to go up to the TZ but it  wouldn't change. So I  tried routing to a town on the outher side of the TZ bridge and it seemed to work. What it ended up doing was instead of going across the TZ it had me crossing on the George Washington and going North along the river to that town. 

Byron, you just have a thing for the GW.

Bill

 

[jleamont]

Bill, probably why I don't have a GPS in the coach! DW knows everything, I don't even need google anymore .

 

[obedb]

GW. Yeah kinda a thing. There are many people that do not read maps. Guess that I am a dying breed. My dad used aviation charts in the early days of piloting and then modern avionics when available. After retiring from piloting a C-131 (Convair 440) hauling a General around as an Air Force officer, he used both maps and modern avionics. When I was lucky enough to fly with him, he flew with the electronic stuff,  but he always kept an aviation chart folded on his left knee. He always knew where he was, just in case.

Riding around the country listening to an artificial voice is not me. Crossed the GW first in 1969 as a part time trucker but full time Nike Missle tech stationed at Camp Kilmer, NJ. Special Troops Ft. Dix. Living where we lived and doing what I did often took me there, but there was a reason. Not because some computer application with a feminine voice told me to do it. An expensive bump in the road with some danger involved/ the GW Bridge.

[wildebill308]

How is the construction coming on the TZ?

Bill

[wayne77590]

I have family in New England and we always take I-84 across the Hudson.

[wildebill308]

7 hours ago, jleamont said:

Bill, probably why I don't have a GPS in the coach! DW knows everything, I don't even need google anymore .

 

You live dangerously, she might read this. 

Bill 

[wolfe10]

OK, someone is in TIME OUT!

 

Remember, wife drives, I just hold the wheel.

 

Now, I am in time out-- oh well.

[wildebill308]

10 hours ago, obedb said:

Keep  your GPS systems programmed for the Tappan Zee bridge. You too, Bill. 😎. There are plenty of ways to avoid the Big Apple  area on your trip to Maine.

I meant to tell Byron that I crossed this time on 4 at Glen Falls. Just to stay away from the GW. Then worked my way east so I could go to Ben and Jerry's.

My wife never makes a mistake or misses a road sign. I am not as brave as you. 

Bill 

[jleamont]

8 hours ago, wolfe10 said:

Remember, wife drives, I just hold the wheel.

I have got to remember that 

[jleamont]

8 hours ago, WILDEBILL308 said:

You live dangerously, she might read this

She'll laugh, my DW has a good sense of humor

[richard5933]

17 hours ago, WILDEBILL308 said:

The way GPS tricked me (all was look at a rout on a real map) was It kept refusing to get off I-95 north

Almost every GPS has a way to mark a road as an avoidance. On my Garmin it's not that difficult, although I've only done it a time or two. By marking a particular stretch of road or even a small geographic area as a no-go zone the unit will never route through it. For a one-time route I'll just use a map and do it manually, but if it's an area I drive often I'd want to have the GPS avoid it.

As much as people want to hate GPS units, they can do something maps cannot - they can route around accidents/traffic/road closures in real time. Apps like Waze can do that as well, but as far as I know the GPS units are the only way to automatically re-route in real time AND to have the height/weight of the RV taken into consideration.

As much as I love a good map, driving a coach in traffic is just not the time I want to be reading the map if I have reason to re-route at the last minute.

[obedb]

Another way to avoid the GW and the traffic around NYC. Against your better judgement you fought your way north on 95 through the perils of the DC area and and the Baltimore beltway. You are now headed north on the Jersy Pike possibly dreading what lies ahead😉.

Leave the pike at Exit 10 and head around the Megalopolis north on I-287, cross into NY State, get on the NY Thruway I-87  heading north to I-84 at Newburgh NY. East on 84 will take you to the Mass Pike. Exit the Pike at I-495 and follow that route around Boston. When you rejoin I-95 north of Boston most of the congestion is behind you except for some work traffic late afternoon. Not far from Maine's southern border. 

[jleamont]

2 hours ago, obedb said:

NY Thruway I-87  heading north to I-84 at Newburgh NY. East on 84 will take you to the Mass Pike. Exit the Pike at I-495 and follow that route around Boston. When you rejoin I-95 north of Boston most of the congestion is behind you except for some work traffic late afternoon.

That's the way I go to New England, I usually pick up I-287 off of I-78, nice scenic country drive, with the exception of Hartford CT, depending on the time of day that.s usually not an issue either.

[dbenoit]

We took the gamble and it paid off and went right over GW without steppin on da brake. It was early Sat. morning.

I don't think I would try it again.

[jleamont]

Another interesting fact. For us to cross the GW in the coach with the toad its $68.00. For us to cross on I-84 is $11.00 😘

[ianbullock]

$68?  Another reason to avoid it!

[jleamont]

1 hour ago, IanBullock said:

$68?  Another reason to avoid it!

Wonder how much of those proceeds go to the programmers of GPS units 😂

[ianbullock]

😂

[obedb]

Carl has an extra axle. He paid $80 I think.

[wildebill308]

I think they make up the price as they go along. They charged me $76.00.

Byron, I have already been all over New England, now in RI and taking the toad back to Boston tomorrow.😋  Going to  JFK Presidential Library. https://www.jfklibrary.org/

Bill

[obedb]

Betty is still in rehab. Probably done for this year. Maybe next year to Maine after the Black Flies leave. Bill/ never cross the GW😉.

[wildebill308]

1 hour ago, obedb said:

Bill/ never cross the GW😉.

I will take that to heart.

Where in Main do you go? 

Bill

[obedb]

Going to try Bar Harbor area next year

Set your GPS for the Buffalo area. Go visit with family. Younger we both are not getting. Always liked western NY.