Road Trip Report: VA-MD-DE-DC-NC

[Mdcastle]

Day 1: Norfolk Airport to Suffolk on I-64, US  58/460
Day 2: Suffolk to Williamsburg and back on VA 10, VA 31, Colonial Parkway, US 17, VA 105, I-64, I-664, US 58/460
Day 3: Suffolk to Pocomoke City on US 58/460, I-264, US 13
Day 4: Pocomoke City to Glenn Allen on US 13, US 50, I-395, I-95
Day 5: Glen Allen to Dorsett and back on I-95
Day 6: Glen Allen to Morehead City on I-85, I-95, I-40, US 17, NC 24
Day 7: Morhead City to Kill Devil Hills on US 70, NC 12, US 158
Day 8: Kill Devil Hills to Norfolk Airport on US 158, NC/VA 168, I-64


A few observations:

* My sister kept waffling back and forth about exactly how scared she was on tunnels. Finally she said it didn't matter too much, which I viewed as license to see them, so we drove throught the Downtown and Monitor-Merimack tunnels as well as the Chesapeake Bay. I still took the Jamestown Ferry though, I thought it would be cool to complete the Colonial Parkway, and it made sense when approaching the area from Suffolk where our hotel was.

* Virginia is by far the worst state as far as highway lighting I've been too, especially outside of the Tidewater area. Every rural interchange was dark, and even a lot of signalized intersections, something I haven't seen before.

* I liked Virginia's extensive use of spread medians. Like New England the trees appear to be much closer to the interstate than the midwest.

* I liked the "map sign" approaching Richmond from the north.

* ***Lots*** of traffic signals US 13 north of the CBBT,  It's like being in a long city, and I can't imagine how slow it must be during peak vacation traffic. But maybe I was just irrated because I was in a hurry to get someplace rather than viewing it as a destination in itself. When I was planning I looked at my map and thought "Oh, an expressway; it's probably speed limit 65 so I can average about 60... And what's with the 65 mph limit on I-85 in NC north of Durham...

* Wanted to find  Matapeake State Park to take a photo of the Bay Bridge. I had no detailed map of the area and after a half hour of driving around and asking a local that didn't know I still couldn't find it, but I stumbled on a playground that had a good view.

* Traffic in DC was awful even on a Saturday. If we ever go back and spend time there we're staying at a hotel in the suburbs and driving to a Metro station. My sister did see the Jefferson and Washington Monuments, I couldn't because I was driving but I've actually been to them before.

* The Hampton Road Beltway was very old concrete, but other places asphalt, usually in pretty good condition, predominated, something I've noticed elsewhere on the east coast.

* When I hit I-395, I linked up to a previously clinched route from Dulles into the city.

* King's Dominion had a "LA freeway" themed roller coaster. Of course it bugged me that the "BGS" was apparently painted plywood intstead of retroreflective sheeting.

* The Bay Bridge didn't bother either of us in the least. My sister thought it was kind of cool and we got a free ride since we went westbound only.

* A few very old curved truss arm lights in MD. Millerbend still has them in their catalog but I haven't seen an installation anywhere that didn't appear to be 30 years old.

*Saw a couple of cotton fields on our way to the Jamestown Ferry, and then on our way to Morehead City. And a few Palmettos here and there on the OBX and Norfolk and a few things that looked like actual palms on the lower OBX. Not the most earth shattering observations, but I come from the land of corn, cows and soybeans.

* THe OBX reminded me of the Florida Keys, kind of the laid back atmosphere combined with how expensive things were and blatant tourism in a beautiful area. Exect they don't have sand blowing aross the highway like I saw on Ocracoke Island

* Since I was driving, we went to Raleigh before turning east, and drove down to Wilmington so I could "link up" with previously traveled road west of Raleigh, and complete I-40 east of the Smoky Mts Parkway. I also preferred the Cedar Island Ferry to the Swanquarter one as I could "encircle" more territory. Our agreement is I do all the driving and know geography and thus have complete control of the routes taken, as long as I don't do anything completely unreasonable. It was raining when we passed the rest area at Warsaw, so we went from the rest area just west of I-95 to almost Morehead City without stopping. I also agree to limit taking pictures of highway signs and bridges to those I really find interesting, so I didn't get that many road pictures, but I'll post what I have soon.

They ran my drivers license at the ferry to Ocracoke, something I wasn't expecting. Also, no one ever checked our ticket. Funny story- my sister thought it would be another short hop and I didn't tell her otherwise, so she decided to stand up at the front. An hour later she comments about how long it was, and she got a mild sunburn in that time.

*Often roadgeek goals conflict. In my mind a X0 X5 interstate that reaches both ends of the country is the premier states, but I picked I-85 to veer to Raleigh to encircle more territory and link up with previous routes traveled.

* The simplified BGS version of the MD marker looked a bit "off" to me. IMHO it would look better omitting the divider and just having a white square, since the seperator looked odd when there's no state name to seperate from the number. But I did notice highway markers are bigger and more legible in the midwest in  VA and MD. In NC I found them a bit harder to read since big numbers don't fit in a diamond. In the Norfolk area I saw a few "tall thin font" I shields for the 3DIs. Minnesota tried some of it out and I never liked it. I did like the CBBT signs everywhere.

[Sanctimoniously]

Day 6: Glen Allen to Morehead City on I-85, I-95, I-40, US 17, NC 24

Were you just trying to get in some sights/clinches through this part? I-795 south to US 70 east would have taken you straight to Morehead City/NC 12.

[Mdcastle]

Day 6: Glen Allen to Morehead City on I-85, I-95, I-40, US 17, NC 24

Were you just trying to get in some sights/clinches through this part? I-795 south to US 70 east would have taken you straight to Morehead City/NC 12.

Yes, trying to link up with previously clinched roads in Raleigh, then when we were doing well on time I decided to go I-40 to NC 24 to clinch more of I-40, then when we were still doing well I decided to go to the end of I-40. I don't regret it but if I were to do it again knowing what I do now I would have just taken US 70 and seen either the NC or VA state capitol. For that matter taking the Swanquarter ferry would have been faster, or just driving back to Norfolk and down to Hatteras instead of a ferry faster still, but I like to do trips in loops if at all possible.





The Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel


Mason-Dixon marker at the corner of DE.



The Bay Bridge. If I had to do it again I would have taken pictures myself on the bridge, but I wasn't familiar with the bridge or the amount of traffic that would be on it so I gave the camera to my sister, who'se not the greatest photographer so they are all zoomed out with substantial portions of the car in the frame.


Cedar Island-Ocracoke Ferry


Sand Dunes blowing across NC 12 on Ocracoke Island. I took a picture since it was so un-midwestern.


Wright Brothers monument, I especially liked the phrase "To commemorate the conquest of the air". As much as I like road travel, utlimately air travel enables us to see roads much farther away than would ordinarily be possible, and to that I am grateful to everyone from the Wright Brothers to the president of Southwest, who made it affordable (and who has a picture in the museum as people who furthered the field of aviation).

[1995hoo]

Wow, the Cedar Island ferry looks like a much spiffed-up and larger boat than I recall, although it's not surprising they'd have replaced the one I took because my trip was in May 1993 with some college friends (we were driving from Myrtle Beach to Nags Head). I have some pictures somewhere but I don't know where, since obviously given the year they were not digital photos.

The drive down Ocracoke that day was a ton of fun–we weren't stopping in town, so basically we got off the ferry and once we were out of town we essentially drag-raced the length of the island to try to make the Hatteras ferry ahead of everybody else. Succeeded, too, mainly because we were going 100+ mph at times. Good thing it wasn't windy like in your picture!

[hbelkins]

I was just a kid when we took the Cedar Island-Okracoke ferry, but I don't remember it looking anything like that. I remember more of just a flat-deck ship like the Hatteras ferry was. This looks more like a mini Cape May ferryboat with the upper observation deck.

Do they have a lounge/restaurant and wi-fi like the Cape May ferry does?

[Mdcastle]

More pictures of the Cedar Island- Ocracoke Ferry. I never thought to take pictures indoors; except for restrooms and stairs to the pilot houses the second story is one big lounge with an outdoor balcony with seating on all sides. The tables inside are inlaid with wildly innacurate/stylistic "maps" of the OBX area. There's no food aside from a coffee maker with an honor box, and pop and candy machines.

The ferry was only half filled, and what cars there were seemed to be stopping in Ocracoke at least for a while, I drove right through attempting to make the next boat to Hatteras and when I was through town there was no one else on the road. I originally planned to run the trip clockwise spending the first night in Kitty Hawk and the second in Ocracoke, but Kings Dominion was closed on Saturday so I have to reverse the trip. Probably just as well. We probably would have still wanted more time on the OBX, and even without the sidetracking to Wilmington it would have been a long drive to Richmond after the ferry that day.


A boat going the other way on the Hatteras-Ocracoke Ferry, the boat is a lot smaller. The lounge is tiny with no vending machines.

One thing I noticed I forgot to mention: all the VMS signs in the Norfolk area seemed to have a couple of random "character bits" lit up for some reason, I'm not sure of the technical reason why this would be, noise being interpreted as signal or flaky controllers or something.

[1995hoo]

I was just a kid when we took the Cedar Island-Okracoke ferry, but I don't remember it looking anything like that. I remember more of just a flat-deck ship like the Hatteras ferry was. This looks more like a mini Cape May ferryboat with the upper observation deck.

Do they have a lounge/restaurant and wi-fi like the Cape May ferry does?

That is my recollection as well–a bit bigger than the Hatteras ferry, but otherwise basically a similar design. I don't recall any vending machines (soda or otherwise), but it didn't matter because we had some coolers with leftover beer in them and so we surreptitiously drank those instead before adjourning to the tiny lounge to play Hearts (which was great at first until everyone else realized the reason I was beating them so badly was because I could see their cards reflected in the windows.....good thing we weren't playing for money).

I kind of would have expected the Hatteras boats to be upgraded before the Cedar Island or Swan Quarter ones simply because I suspect the Hatteras ferry carries far higher traffic volumes. On the other hand, the 2+ hour ride from Cedar Island is not terribly enjoyable on those tiny boats.

[Mdcastle]

One factor might be the Hatteras ferry travels through some shallower waters so you want smaller boats. At Cedar Island they handed us a written disclaimer saying that the Hatteras ferry might impose weight limits or even suspend operations due to shallow water during low tide (I tossed  it but it was just a photocopied word document, not something I considered souvenir quality). I guess some people have gone over to Ocracoke to Hatteras and then not be able to return that day. Another reason why I wanted to get to Hatteras ASAP in case the next ferry decided to shut down despite the fact that Ocracoke looked like a cute town, kind of reminded my of Friday Harbor, WA in a way.

Maybe also the larger boats have bigger fuel tanks- I have no idea how much it takes, and on a longer ferry people want more to spread out. The lounge on the Cedar Island ferry looked like it could accomodate everyone on a full boat if they so chose, no way on the Hatteras ferry.

[froggie]

A bit late on this reply, but I've also been at sea.

* ***Lots*** of traffic signals US 13 north of the CBBT,  It's like being in a long city, and I can't imagine how slow it must be during peak vacation traffic.

23 signals between the CBBT and US 113 in Pocomoke City.  But it's not that bad because it doesn't really have "peak vacation traffic".  Naturally things are better in the wintertime when there's fewer people on the roads to begin with, but US 13 never gets a lot of the vacation traffic flow because they're using other travelsheds.  Most of the Virginia Beach/Outer Banks vacation traffic is coming from areas other than the Northeast.

But even with the signals, it's still faster taking US 13 between Norfolk and Wilmington than it is taking 64/95.

* Traffic in DC was awful even on a Saturday. If we ever go back and spend time there we're staying at a hotel in the suburbs and driving to a Metro station. My sister did see the Jefferson and Washington Monuments, I couldn't because I was driving but I've actually been to them before.

I-95 in Virginia, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, and a little bit of I-66 right outside the Beltway are the roads where day-of-week does not matter.  Most other DC roads are not that bad on the weekend unless there's construction or a crash.

Better idea, if cost isn't as much of a factor:  there are several Metro stations where there are hotels immediately adjacent or nearby.  Two I would suggest are the Courtyard or the Holiday Inn on Eisenhower Ave in Alexandria. Both are immediately next to the Beltway/Telegraph Rd interchange and within walking distance of the Eisenhower Ave Metro station on the Yellow Line.  There are also several eateries and a large IMAX movie theater at Hoffman Center within walking distance of those two hotels as well.

* The Hampton Road Beltway was very old concrete, but other places asphalt, usually in pretty good condition, predominated, something I've noticed elsewhere on the east coast.

Something I've noticed over the years is that the Hampton Roads areas tends to use a lot of concrete, especially in recent construction, whereas Northern Virginia (with the notable exception of a stretch of I-66 in Fairfax County) uses asphalt.  Hampton Roads will also patch their concrete, whereas Northern Virginia will diamond-grind what little they have left and asphalt overlay it...much as they did recently on I-66 between the Beltway and Fair Oaks.

[cpzilliacus]

A bit late on this reply, but I've also been at sea.

* ***Lots*** of traffic signals US 13 north of the CBBT,  It's like being in a long city, and I can't imagine how slow it must be during peak vacation traffic.

23 signals between the CBBT and US 113 in Pocomoke City.  But it's not that bad because it doesn't really have "peak vacation traffic".  Naturally things are better in the wintertime when there's fewer people on the roads to begin with, but US 13 never gets a lot of the vacation traffic flow because they're using other travelsheds.  Most of the Virginia Beach/Outer Banks vacation traffic is coming from areas other than the Northeast.

But even with the signals, it's still faster taking US 13 between Norfolk and Wilmington than it is taking 64/95.

I have driven  U.S. 13 between Salisbury, Md. and Virginia Beach in the summer, and have not found it to be especially busy.

* Traffic in DC was awful even on a Saturday. If we ever go back and spend time there we're staying at a hotel in the suburbs and driving to a Metro station. My sister did see the Jefferson and Washington Monuments, I couldn't because I was driving but I've actually been to them before.

I-95 in Virginia, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, and a little bit of I-66 right outside the Beltway are the roads where day-of-week does not matter.  Most other DC roads are not that bad on the weekend unless there's construction or a crash.

Southbound I-95 in Maryland, approaching the Capital Beltway, is frequently terrible on any weekend afternoon.  As is the Beltway between I-95 and I-270. 

Better idea, if cost isn't as much of a factor:  there are several Metro stations where there are hotels immediately adjacent or nearby.  Two I would suggest are the Courtyard or the Holiday Inn on Eisenhower Ave in Alexandria. Both are immediately next to the Beltway/Telegraph Rd interchange and within walking distance of the Eisenhower Ave Metro station on the Yellow Line.  There are also several eateries and a large IMAX movie theater at Hoffman Center within walking distance of those two hotels as well.

That is good advice.  Similarly, you can do that near the New Carrollton and Greenbelt stops in Prince George's County.

* The Hampton Road Beltway was very old concrete, but other places asphalt, usually in pretty good condition, predominated, something I've noticed elsewhere on the east coast.

Something I've noticed over the years is that the Hampton Roads areas tends to use a lot of concrete, especially in recent construction, whereas Northern Virginia (with the notable exception of a stretch of I-66 in Fairfax County) uses asphalt.  Hampton Roads will also patch their concrete, whereas Northern Virginia will diamond-grind what little they have left and asphalt overlay it...much as they did recently on I-66 between the Beltway and Fair Oaks.

Much of the Washington-area freeway and expressway system was originally portland cement concrete ("rigid" pavement), including the Maryland Beltway from Md. 97 (Georgia Avenue) around to the Wilson Bridge; U.S. 50 between the D.C. line and Annapolis; the "between the Beltways" I-95 and all of the federally-maintained Baltimore-Washington Parkway.  In Virginia, the original Shirley Highway was also rigid pavement (and as you correctly point out, also I-66). I-66 between U.S. 29 at Gainesville and U.S. 50 at Fair Oaks was also rigid, from the start (but was totally reconstructed in the 1990's).   But over the years, most of them have been paved over with asphalt overlays.

[Beltway]

Something I've noticed over the years is that the Hampton Roads areas tends to use a lot of concrete, especially in recent construction, whereas Northern Virginia (with the notable exception of a stretch of I-66 in Fairfax County) uses asphalt.  Hampton Roads will also patch their concrete, whereas Northern Virginia will diamond-grind what little they have left and asphalt overlay it...much as they did recently on I-66 between the Beltway and Fair Oaks.

The Hampton Roads area in Virginia mostly uses concrete pavement on Interstates, because the very high capacity of the concrete industry in that area, makes it more favorable on a cost basis.

Trying using solely one type could easily overcome the industry capacity of a region, leading to much higher unit prices for that type.  That is why that usually you see considerable use of both types in a region.

The multi-factor formula for life cycle costs of a pavement type, does not lead to a large difference.  It is close enough that each industry can claim that its type is a bit cheaper, by arguing over the exact value of each factor.  We're talking a total of about 5 to 10% at most.

[Alps]

Something I've noticed over the years is that the Hampton Roads areas tends to use a lot of concrete, especially in recent construction, whereas Northern Virginia (with the notable exception of a stretch of I-66 in Fairfax County) uses asphalt.  Hampton Roads will also patch their concrete, whereas Northern Virginia will diamond-grind what little they have left and asphalt overlay it...much as they did recently on I-66 between the Beltway and Fair Oaks.

Trying using solely one type could easily overcome the industry capacity of a region, leading to much higher unit prices for that type.  That is why that usually you see considerable use of both types in a region.

Err, no. First of all, many regions use exclusively asphalt, so your second sentence is immediately false. As for the first sentence, it's called capitalism. If a region wants to use concrete to that degree, other competitors will come in or existing industries will scale up capacity accordingly.

[froggie]

Southbound I-95 in Maryland, approaching the Capital Beltway, is frequently terrible on any weekend afternoon

Not as bad as the BW Pkwy gets.  Though I wasn't in that particular area every weekend, I never had an issue with I-95 in Maryland on the weekends.  But to be fair, it was usually later in the evening when I'd be heading back south.

[cpzilliacus]

Southbound I-95 in Maryland, approaching the Capital Beltway, is frequently terrible on any weekend afternoon

Not as bad as the BW Pkwy gets.  Though I wasn't in that particular area every weekend, I never had an issue with I-95 in Maryland on the weekends.  But to be fair, it was usually later in the evening when I'd be heading back south.

I always avoid the Baltimore-Washington Parkway on weekends (even a small incident (on the mostly four-lane parkway) frequently causes huge backups and it sometimes takes law enforcement (the United States Park Police) quite a while to arrive). 

Maryland DOT/SHA deploys CHART incident patrol units on the Parkway on weekdays, but unfortunately not usually on weekends.

[froggie]

Partially out of curiosity (but also cause of this thread), I counted the signals when I headed up to Vermont this weekend.  There are 27 signals now on US 13 between the CBBT and the Maryland line, the biggest concentrations being in Exmore (6) and the Onley/Accomack area (8).  Also counted 14 red left arrows...that being 14 arrows total, not 14 intersections.  Only one is in Northampton County (SB 13 at VA 184), while there are 3 at the US 13/VA 179 intersection in Onley.

[Mdcastle]

I do think the "RED signal ahead" light up signs are kind of cool.

Washington hotels: I'll look into the suggestions. Generally speaking I like to stay at places that 1) Guaranteed not to be a dump, and 2) aren't more than about $100.00 a night and include free breakfast and parking. Usually this means a Holiday Inn Express or a nicer Days Inn/Super 8 type place, but I'm somewhat flexible with prices and amenties and such.