I travel between Richmond and the NYC area about once a month on average. Usually I fly, but if I need a car when I'm there and am traveling at off-peak times I'll drive.

I drove up last weekend, leaving Richmond at 9:30 am the Friday after Thanksgiving and coming back Sunday. The Washington Post and other news sites posted warnings about the extensive delays at the Delaware toll plaza due to construction, so I wanted to avoid I-95.

Often I will exit I-95 just north of Richmond and take VA 207/US 301/DE 896 to bypass DC and Baltimore, but 301 is very slow with all the lights and congestion in the Waldorf area---probably slower than the Beltway most of the time.

So with traffic being light on Black Friday, I took 95 to the inner loop of the Beltway (crossing at the American Legion Bridge), back on 95 in Maryland to 695/Baltimore Beltway west/northbound, then I-83 north into Pennsylvania, exiting at York. In York, PA I hopped on the US 30 expressway, connecting to the US 222 expressway in Lancaster and up to Reading. US 222 then narrowed down to 2 lanes for a short stretch before hooking up with I-78 in Allentown. From Allentown it's about an hour and a half to the Holland Tunnel, if 78 is moving at normal speed.

My trip from Richmond to South Orange, NJ (about 12 miles west of Manhattan) took 5 hours and 50 minutes. It takes 90 minutes to drive from Richmond to DC with no traffic, so figure a little over 4 hours from DC to NY on this route. The return on Sunday took 8 hours back to Richmond due to the usual holiday traffic backups on I-95 southbound in Virginia, but I expected that on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Driving through Pennsylvania is much more scenic and less crowded than 95 and the Jersey Turnpike. And the icing on the cake is, this route has no tolls northbound/eastbound and only a 75 cent toll on the return trip (crossing the river at the NJ/PA border on 78 westbound).

This will be the route I use from now on when driving up north. I highly recommend it!