On Sun, 4 Jul 1999, Andrew Mace wrote:
> On Sun, 4 Jul 1999, Fred Thomas wrote:
Folks - instead of sending this 10 or 20 times to individuals, I thought
I might save a few moments and post it to the lists.
Note: I am not a professional travel consultant or anything like that. I
hope that we're all "adults" here and that the following pointers would
be used as pointers, not absolute directions, and that you should consult
with a travel or auto club (such as the Americal Automobile Association)
for specific routes and you should try to get some detailed maps for your
journey.
I say that because when they refer to roads that resemble "cow paths",
thet're talking about New England. Even though I've lived around these
parts for a long time (43 plus years, if you care) and I've driven
hundreds of thousands of miles around here. The general point is the
roads don't necessarily run N/S or E/W. They generally run "radially"
from major points... like Albany, Boston, Hartford, etc. So there are
some strange paths required to get from point A to point B.
Last caution. I know of no major construction projects between Boston and
Portland at this time. Boston is, of course, one giant construction
project - that being the tax-money-sink-hole^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^H^h^h^h^h^
"Big Dig", and Boston proper should probably be avoided at all costs. If
you _must_ go to Boston on this trip - feel free to park you car at my
house just north of town and take public transportation to the "big city".
But we're going to Portland, ME to drive the world's greatest Sports
Cars, right?
That having been said, I offer the following.
> > Andy, Dan Masters & I are coming up Rt # 81, probably to Albany, what is
> > your recomendation for the easiest/best way from 81 to Portland. We will
> > spend Tue. night in either Allentown PA or Binghamton NY, then on to
> > Portland Wed.. I do not think tolls or interstate bother either one of
> > us, so whatever you may recommend. Thanks for your help. "FT"
>
> Fred (and Dan): I think your best bet is to take I-88 East from Binghamton,
> NY, to Albany/Schenectady, where you'll pick up I-90 East. Take that to
> Boston, MA, "turn left" on I-95 or something like that and head north to
> Portland. I'll let my friend Bob Lang (my personal driver for the 1997
> VTR Convention in TX and the official "Lobsta" of the '99 Convention)
> help from here. I don't currently have the exact details handy from
> Boston north.
Sorry for the delay - I've actually been doing _work_ this week. Perish
the thought!
Anyway - Andy is mostly correct... the general plan would be I-90 to I-95
and then I-95 all the way to Portland.
Basically, that means I-90 to exit 14, which is I-95. The toll from
Lee/Lenox, MA to I-95 is around $2.70. Locals also call the road
(I-95)128, in case you ask for local info on CB channel 19. Old habits
"die hard". Follow I-95 N around to the "128 split"... I-95 bears off to
the right and 128 goes straight. Take the I-95 bear-off, unless you want
to go to Glocester, MA and get some seafood. At any rate, Once on I-95
north again, proceed into NH, pay the toll ($1), proceed through
Portsmouth and over the Piscataqua river Bridge. Don't try to pronounce
it, but the general pronunciation is: piss-CAT-a-kwa.... if you get that
right, the locals will be very impressed. Once in the Great State of Maine
(on the other side of the bridge) you have about 70 miles to go. After
about 5 miles, you have to stop at the toll booth (again???) and drop off
$1.25 or so to the state-o-maine. You then drive about 60 miles up I-95
to exit 6A, the South Portland I-295 exit. There's no more toll there, I
think the governer Angus King, like any proper Republican, axed all the
toll collectors except in key areas, probably in some sort of fit of
fiscal responsibility... - note when you're leaving, you have
to pay $.50 to get onto I-95 and then another $1.25 or so to get back off
again. Go figure.
However, there are a couple of cautions.
As you may have heard, Boston has some, well, interesting driving
techniques. The bumper sticker "Visualize Using Your Turn Signal", a play
on the "Visualize World Peace" bumper sticker popular with the "save the
whales" crowd, is very popular here. Note: if you see that sticker, watch
out! It's some people's way of rationalizing there own automotive insanity.
There are also sections of the major roads (not actually in the
instructions presented here) where travel in the break-down lane is
actually permitted. I mention this because it is not at all rare to see
some nut-case blasting down the breakdown lane trying to "make time".
Give those folks lots of room!!!
As such, your best bet would be to try to avoid the general
metropolitan Boston area altogether, especially at the two "rush hours",
those being from 6:00 AM to about 9:30 AM and again from about 3:30 PM
'till about 7:00 PM. Not only will it save you some time, but it will
def. save you some aggrivation.
To miss these venues, instead of taking I-90 all the way to I-95, take
either I-290N (exit 10) at Worcester (pronounced Woostah) or I-495N (exit
11A) in Westborough. I-495 is the major circumferential road around Boston
(although the area is blessed with two circumferentials... the old 128 -
now called I-95 and I-495). Note: with the booming high tech thing going
on in this area, many companies have established themselves in the "cheap
seats" out by I-495. Generally traffic flows quite nicely on this road,
but when there is an accident - they are usually real "duesies". Think
many mile backups. This is due to the fact that most drivers use I-495 at
well above the posted 65 MPH limit. The State Police randomly target area
of enforcement, so if you're a "I don't drive 55 (or 65 or whatever) type
of driver, be forwarned!!!) Regarding traffic flow, you probably want to
tune your radios to the stations that have traffic reports. WBZ, 1030 AM
has "traffic on the threes", a traffic report at :03, :13, :23, :33, :43,
:53 every hour, so you might want to tune in there... and don't be afraid
to ask the truckers for advice. They're a little "surley", but there are
some really helpful people out there. Keep in mind that small children and
some women will be very offended by the banter on CB channel 19 once you
clear the Hudson River Valley. I have no idea why this is.
One more warning about I-495 - the area near Lawrence, MA is a high
population density area but the road is slightly outmoded in a few spots.
What this means is that the road narrows down to a couple of lanes for a
few miles. Generally, this means slowdowns around the "merge", but
generally the traffic flows.
In good conditions, the trip from Albany, NY to the greater Boston area
takes about 2.5 hours... add another 2.5 hours from I-95/I-90 to
Portland, more or less.
> By the way, I-88 is a rather nice road as Interstates go. However, if you
> feel like a slightly easier pace from Binghamton to Albany, you can
> follow Route 7. Typical older "major" road in that it goes through every
> little town, etc., but a nice ride nonetheless!
I'll echo Andy's comment and off the following.
If you happen to be in a slightly more liesurely mode of travel, you could
take two lane roads from the general Albany area. Take NY 7 east out of
Albany (acually Troy, I think. A bit north of Albany). That becomes VT9
which you can take past Bennington, VT (and the home of Hemmings Motor
News), over the "Molly Stark Trail" to Brattleboro, VT. 9 Continues over
the Connecticut River to the general Keene, NH area. Follow the same Road
(it's now NH 9) past Keene towards Concord, NH. Eventually, you will merge
with US 202. You can take this road all the way to Gorham, ME (more or
less) and then split off over to Portland. You don't want to take 202 "all
the way" it doesn't appear to touch Portland and continues to Augusta, ME,
more or less. At any rate, for an additional 1 hour total time, maybe 1.5
hours more (so figure 6 to 6.5 hours total time) from Albany to Portland,
ME, you can drive on improved two lane roads (most of the way) with no
tolls and no "big city bullshit". In other words a way less stressful
path. It's up to you. The 202 route does go through Concord, NH, but
believe me - Concord, NH is not a big city, by any stretch.
If you have any questions, drop me a line. I should be able to respond
up-to the 27th of July... after that, call the Holiday Inn by the Bay and
have me paged. But I don't have a room in the Hotel under my name, so
good luck finding me!
In any case - I want to wish all attendees to the VTR 25th in Portland,
ME a safe and break-down free trip. And I hope to see you there!
> --Andy
regards,
rml
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