Toll Costs from PA to Brooklyn Cruise Terminal

[mking8288]

Going off tangent on OP's question ...

I worked & commute daily to Sunset Park area for years, traffic on that BQE/I-278/Gowanus elevated has been known & status quo for my 35+ driving years and that HOV-3 only for the morning in-bound commuters only made it worst for others heading to their job (and airport) in the opposite direction, on clear days and accident-free, LOL. Leave early, listen to AM radio for traffic news in the pre-iPhone/Google & Waze era and have backup plans - travel when less congested, flex-work schedule and drive thru local streets to go around, take a longer route ... I go from Queens to Brooklyn via JFK on the Belt Parkway instead of the "shorter" but slower BQE - that's 20 miles of extra distance each day, wear & tears and tolls on the body and vehicle. Most of time, it worked - sometimes, actually getting into the office "early" whereas other times, you have no choice but to be late & need to call in to say so. Finding parking, once you "arrived" is a challenge for some, as not every business has off-street parking for employees and/or visitors.

 

Subways, buses too are subject to delays and breakdown - and car service (corporate account on vouchers for us) aren't exempt from the problems of getting around ... sometimes, it's the DOS garbage truck ahead, trapping everyone on the city block for that 5 to 10 minutes, going nowhere fast. The FedEx & UPS trucks, commercial vehicles and buses are all wild cards in the traffic matrix above on the highways and below on local streets.

 

It is what it is of being in NY, 2 million+ in the borough (county) of Brooklyn, NYC alone. Amazing, isn't it.

[pacruise804]

OP here - we made it to the cruise and home without any accidents or tickets:D We were coming from North Central PA, so I-80 most of the way. One of the last "official" directions we had instructed a left lane exit - but the ramp was closed for construction. Google maps app then kept getting confused about where we were and if we too the most recent step they gave us. I think even with going somewhat in circles it only added around 15-20 minutes.

 

The way home was a whole other animal:eek:. We took the advice of other cruisers to wait until late disembarking (10:30) to avoid rush hour since we weren't in a hurry. It still took almost twice as long to get out of the city (but it was kind of neat to feel dwarfed by the buildings in Manhattan) as it did to get in. My dear husband - who did all the driving - decreed that we will find a way to budget for a hotel stay and take a shuttle to/from the port if we sail from Brooklyn or Manhattan again.

 

Thanks again to all with your recommendations/information.

[luckyinpa]

OP here - we made it to the cruise and home without any accidents or tickets:D We were coming from North Central PA, so I-80 most of the way. One of the last "official" directions we had instructed a left lane exit - but the ramp was closed for construction. Google maps app then kept getting confused about where we were and if we too the most recent step they gave us. I think even with going somewhat in circles it only added around 15-20 minutes.

 

The way home was a whole other animal:eek:. We took the advice of other cruisers to wait until late disembarking (10:30) to avoid rush hour since we weren't in a hurry. It still took almost twice as long to get out of the city (but it was kind of neat to feel dwarfed by the buildings in Manhattan) as it did to get in. My dear husband - who did all the driving - decreed that we will find a way to budget for a hotel stay and take a shuttle to/from the port if we sail from Brooklyn or Manhattan again.

 

Thanks again to all with your recommendations/information.

 

wow i was home before 1030 and it took me about 3 hours lol. that includes bfast stop. off ship around 710 thursday. about 2.5 to get there from berks county

 

which way did you go? on the way there i took the wrong way on 287 and wound up on 80 but went down 95 to 278 and it was ez as pie

 

way home 278 to 95 to 287 to 78 and NJ was the worse traffic not tooo bad in NY. just the streets, not the highway. still dont know how anyone fights that traffic everyday. id need 150K at least for all that stress.

[pacruise804]

wow i was home before 1030 and it took me about 3 hours lol. that includes bfast stop. off ship around 710 thursday. about 2.5 to get there from berks county

 

which way did you go? on the way there i took the wrong way on 287 and wound up on 80 but went down 95 to 278 and it was ez as pie

 

way home 278 to 95 to 287 to 78 and NJ was the worse traffic not tooo bad in NY. just the streets, not the highway. still dont know how anyone fights that traffic everyday. id need 150K at least for all that stress.

 

It was listed as around 3.5 hours on the way in - mostly 80 as we are just south of Williamsport and about 5 miles north of 80. We missed the truck fire by less than an hour.:eek:

 

Stopping at Tannersville on the way home took almost 3 hours to get there. Tannersville is about 5-10 miles inside PA west of the NJ border.

 

You mentioned Berks County - that's significantly south of us and would have probably added on another hour to our trip. $150K goes farther in rural PA than the suburbs of NYC - we took a pay cut to move from NJ to here but had a lower cost of living yielding a net increase. That said I'm sure there are those who love city life and all it has to offer and would go nuts with all the buggies and tractors I have to deal with.;)

 

Glad you had good roads home.