Routing thoughts: Greensboro to Viera, Florida?

[1995hoo]

Planning ahead for our Christmas trip to Florida and I've gotten Ms1995hoo to agree to take a route other than I-95 for at least the first part of the trip. We're starting the drive the Friday before Christmas, with timing dependent on when she can get off work, and I'm planning to take US-29 through Virginia to the Greensboro area and probably stop there for the night unless we get out earlier than expected.

My question for the folks here is, what do you think is the best way from there, recognizing that it will be the Saturday before Christmas and that most people are likely to be taking Monday the 24th off if their offices aren't already closed? Our destination is Viera (between Cocoa and Melbourne). The most obvious route is US-220 (also sometimes called I-73/74, but I think of it as 220 because that's what it was during my years at Duke) to Rockingham, then US-52 through Darlington to Florence, then I-95. Google Maps tells me the I-85-->I-77-->I-26 route is 26 miles longer; its other suggestion involves I-77 to Columbia, then I-20 west to Augusta and then dropping south on US and Georgia state routes to Waycross and then returning to I-95 near Jacksonville. The latter route is about 50 miles longer but looks like it would take a lot longer time-wise. Going around via Atlanta isn't an option because it's 200 miles out of the way even though I could travel a bunch of I-75 for the first time–just too much extra distance.

I've clinched I-85 as well as all the relevant portions of I-95, so clinches are not a consideration. Never used US-220 south of Greensboro nor I-77 south of Charlotte nor any of South Carolina's portion of I-26. The goal is to try to get to my sister-in-law's house in time to relax a bit before dinner, but on the other hand, I hate sitting in stopped traffic when it can be avoided. (In other words, the goal is to balance roadgeek exploring with the desire to make the trip in a relatively timely fashion.) Anybody have any thoughts on the various options I've just outlined in terms of how the roads are, what we might expect traffic-wise, and any notorious speedtraps or other issues? Any of the roads have anything scenic?

Thanks in advance.

[cpzilliacus]

The most obvious route is US-220 (also sometimes called I-73/74, but I think of it as 220 because that's what it was during my years at Duke) to Rockingham, then US-52 through Darlington to Florence, then I-95.

I will defer to others on most of this, except I-95 in South Carolina.

Having driven it pretty frequently in recent years, it becomes a much easier and much more pleasant trip (in terms of traffic, or especially lack thereof) headed south past the I-20 interchange in Florence.

Even on "getaway" holidays. 

I took a look at the SCDOT traffic counts online, which seem to confirm that.  North of Florence in Dillon County, the 2011 AADT on I-95 is around 35,000 (yes, that's tiny compared to highways around D.C.). 

In Sumter County, the AADT declines by about 10,000 to around 25,000, and it makes the freeway seem empty unless there are lane closures, though it then rises as one heads south of there for reasons not exactly clear to me (except crossing Lake Marion, where it's the only crossing for miles around).

I think it has been outlawed by the South Carolina legislature, but there used to be an automated speed limit operation in Ridgeland, not that far from the Georgia border.

[1995hoo]

The camera has indeed been removed, but the town still runs a speedtrap there. I've thought about using my iPhone's "Reminders" app to set up a proximity-based reminder to sound an alert when I approach the Ridgeland area.

Thanks for the comments. Last Christmas when we made the drive south it was a Wednesday (Christmas was Sunday) and we made great time going straight down I-95, but since it was a Wednesday it's not necessarily a good predictor.

[dfilpus]

US 220 (I 73/74) from Greensboro to Ellerbe is straightforward rural freeway. Past Ellerbe, it becomes a divided highway, then a city street into Rockingham. This is the only place you will run into traffic. South of Rockingham, US 1 and then US 52 is two lane curvy rural road all the way to Florence. Cheraw is a small town; your speed through there may vary. Faster would be to take US 74 (Future I 74) east from Rockingham to I 95.

I 77 and I 26 from Charlotte to I 95 is primarily nearly vacant rural interstate. Going past Columbia on I 77 on the east side is usually pretty straightforward. The main interchanges are for the Fort, which will probably not be heavily used on Christmas Eve.

US 25/US 301/US 1 from Augusta GA to Jacksonville FL is slow south of I 16. There are a ton of small towns and speed traps in southeastern Georgia. When we go from Augusta to Orlando, we take US 25 to I 16 and I 16 to I 95.

[realjd]

I'm a fan of US1 between Daytona and Melbourne. It can get a bit slow through South Daytona and Titusville but you get spectacular views of KSC and the VAB, and much of it is along the river. Farther north, US1 juts inland and is just generic southern pine forest. It's scenic but nothing special.

[jwolfer]

US 220 (I 73/74) from Greensboro to Ellerbe is straightforward rural freeway. Past Ellerbe, it becomes a divided highway, then a city street into Rockingham. This is the only place you will run into traffic. South of Rockingham, US 1 and then US 52 is two lane curvy rural road all the way to Florence. Cheraw is a small town; your speed through there may vary. Faster would be to take US 74 (Future I 74) east from Rockingham to I 95.

I 77 and I 26 from Charlotte to I 95 is primarily nearly vacant rural interstate. Going past Columbia on I 77 on the east side is usually pretty straightforward. The main interchanges are for the Fort, which will probably not be heavily used on Christmas Eve.

US 25/US 301/US 1 from Augusta GA to Jacksonville FL is slow south of I 16. There are a ton of small towns and speed traps in southeastern Georgia. When we go from Augusta to Orlando, we take US 25 to I 16 and I 16 to I 95.

All if I-95 in Georgia is 6 or more lanes... Real nice 6 lanes with auxiliary lanes between exits around Brunswick.. so essentially it is a 8 lane freeway... it would have to be a huge pile-up to stop traffic thru coastal GA on I-95.  If it does get bad its real easy to bail 95 and pick up 17 or 301 depending on what you run into.

Once in FL US 17 between Jax and Deland is a nice change of pace but there is traffic lights around Orange Park and Palatka and 2 lanes from Palatka to Deland, but a relatively rural area

[1995hoo]

US 220 (I 73/74) from Greensboro to Ellerbe is straightforward rural freeway. Past Ellerbe, it becomes a divided highway, then a city street into Rockingham. This is the only place you will run into traffic. South of Rockingham, US 1 and then US 52 is two lane curvy rural road all the way to Florence. Cheraw is a small town; your speed through there may vary. Faster would be to take US 74 (Future I 74) east from Rockingham to I 95.

I 77 and I 26 from Charlotte to I 95 is primarily nearly vacant rural interstate. Going past Columbia on I 77 on the east side is usually pretty straightforward. The main interchanges are for the Fort, which will probably not be heavily used on Christmas Eve.

US 25/US 301/US 1 from Augusta GA to Jacksonville FL is slow south of I 16. There are a ton of small towns and speed traps in southeastern Georgia. When we go from Augusta to Orlando, we take US 25 to I 16 and I 16 to I 95.

Thanks. Not sure we'll do the "74 east" portion just because it puts us back onto I-95 that much further north and I just feel like going a different way from I-95 to the extent it's reasonable. The I-16 alternative didn't cross my mind, although as I look at a map in light of your comments I have no idea why it didn't occur to me. I-95 through Georgia is a very nice road, especially compared with South Carolina's portion.

As I look at the map I find myself thinking the thing to do might be to try to push to Charlotte on Friday night if Ms1995hoo gets off work early enough. It's about 300 miles from home to Greensboro, but the portion from there to Charlotte is a reasonably easy drive. (Just to make sure I was clear: We won't be driving on Christmas Eve. December 24 is a Monday and we plan to leave the preceding Friday and finish the trip on Saturday. What prompted my queries about traffic and such was the thought that other people might well do the same and just take Monday off if they didn't already have it.)

I'm a fan of US1 between Daytona and Melbourne. It can get a bit slow through South Daytona and Titusville but you get spectacular views of KSC and the VAB, and much of it is along the river. Farther north, US1 juts inland and is just generic southern pine forest. It's scenic but nothing special.

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind depending on the timing. By that point in the day we may just want to get there and be done with the drive (Ms1995hoo more so than me, but when she gets sick of being in the car, she isn't shy about letting me know and so it makes me want to be done with the drive too, you know what I mean?).

....

Once in FL US 17 between Jax and Deland is a nice change of pace but there is traffic lights around Orange Park and Palatka and 2 lanes from Palatka to Deland, but a relatively rural area

We've seen portions of that from the Auto Train and we've driven on portions around Green Cove Springs (we have a friend who lives on Lake Asbury) and it did indeed look like a road that might move along nicely. What's the speed limit? I'm not sure I'd go that way simply because the southern end of that segment is so much further west than we want to be, but if I-95 traffic is heavy with Christmas approaching.....

[NE2]

We've seen portions of that from the Auto Train and we've driven on portions around Green Cove Springs (we have a friend who lives on Lake Asbury) and it did indeed look like a road that might move along nicely. What's the speed limit?

60-65 outside towns: http://www.itoworld.com/map/149#fullscreen&lat=29.59972232545766&lon=-81.43460004637359&zoom=10

You can also cut off to Palatka on SR 207 from I-95.

[deathtopumpkins]

We've seen portions of that from the Auto Train and we've driven on portions around Green Cove Springs (we have a friend who lives on Lake Asbury) and it did indeed look like a road that might move along nicely. What's the speed limit?

60-65 outside towns: http://www.itoworld.com/map/149#fullscreen&lat=29.59972232545766&lon=-81.43460004637359&zoom=10

Is that data pulled from OSM? Because that map would be amazingly useful if the data were more complete...

[NE2]

We've seen portions of that from the Auto Train and we've driven on portions around Green Cove Springs (we have a friend who lives on Lake Asbury) and it did indeed look like a road that might move along nicely. What's the speed limit?

60-65 outside towns: http://www.itoworld.com/map/149#fullscreen&lat=29.59972232545766&lon=-81.43460004637359&zoom=10

Is that data pulled from OSM? Because that map would be amazingly useful if the data were more complete...

Yes, and most of it in Florida was imported from FDOT. (Similarly, most Massachusetts data comes from MassGIS, but seems to be of somewhat worse quality.)

[deathtopumpkins]

We've seen portions of that from the Auto Train and we've driven on portions around Green Cove Springs (we have a friend who lives on Lake Asbury) and it did indeed look like a road that might move along nicely. What's the speed limit?

60-65 outside towns: http://www.itoworld.com/map/149#fullscreen&lat=29.59972232545766&lon=-81.43460004637359&zoom=10

Is that data pulled from OSM? Because that map would be amazingly useful if the data were more complete...

Yes, and most of it in Florida was imported from FDOT. (Similarly, most Massachusetts data comes from MassGIS, but seems to be of somewhat worse quality.)

Yeah I see most Mass data is missing... maybe I'll start filling some of it in if it's not too difficult.

[1995hoo]

Bumped to say thanks again to all for the tips. We drove down this past Friday and Saturday. Used US-29 and I-85 to Charlotte on Friday and then stopped for the night (took eight hours to go 390 miles due to traffic leaving DC and roadwork on I-85). Saturday we took I-85 to I-77 to I-26.....really nice, easy drive–until a mile before I-95 when it slammed to a stop. Turned on Waze and it showed a huge backup on I-95, so I asked the car's sat-nav for a detour. It had us stay on I-26 to I-526 and then take US-17 back to I-95 near Yamasee. Easy drive, no traffic, added 66 miles to the trip. Hit traffic again 10 miles north of the Georgia state line due to a wreck in the northbound lanes. I don't know why so many people feel compelled to rubberneck. I-295 over the Dames Point Bridge was nice and after that it was mostly 85 mph through Florida except near the outlet mall near St. Augustine.

Unfortunately we didn't get to try realjd's US-1 suggestion because we were tired and grumpy and wanted to be done with the drive by then. We DID drive a decent portion of Indian River Drive yesterday going up to visit our nephew a short distance north of the Bee Line (I had to go to the bank in Cocoa and so I opted for the scenic route the rest of the way). Nice drive. I see why people jammed that area for space shuttle launches.

So, it is 860 miles if we use I-95 the whole way. Should have been 924 miles on our route, but going east to Charleston turned it into 1,003 miles....our relatives' kids couldn't understand why we wouldn't sit and play with them when we got here!

I really liked the US-29 and I-77/I-26 portions, but I don't know if we will go that way again. Maybe next time I might try the western route via Augusta. The traffic leaving DC/NOVA is just life, but I-95 in South Carolina is just a pain in the arse when it backs up.