getting away - cutting through NYC?
 

I know someone out there must come up from NJ or NYC! We are heading south for April vacation and usually avoid NYC like the plague, rural folk that we are. We'll be passing through the NYC area around 8-10 AM on a Saturday morning, April 21st -- could it be worth cutting through the city rather than going all the way around on the GS Parkway? We'd like to make the drive as short as possible for the sake of our kids, but we've been through NYC only once and of course got caught in a traffic jam (in hindsight, it was a Sunday night in summer coming north).

Any suggestions of websites / radio stations to check for road or traffic alerts the night before? Special events which might snarl traffic?

Go West Young Man
 

You can always head down either 684 from 84 or the Merritt Parkway and pick up 287 to cross the Tappan Zee Bridge. You can get a view of the bridge cams here:
http://www.nysthruway.gov/webcams/index.html
.

Why not take the scenic route? I'ts an extra hour or so.....but a very relaxing drive. We take rt 104 from Meredith onto rt 4 to I 89.Then,just a few miles to 91 south and we pick up 84 in Hartford to the GS pkwy.
It's all country driving and you'll be lucky to pass 10 cars all the way to rt 91.
When we're in a hurry,we bang right down rt 95,which feels like a NASCAR race.

We have two kids under 3 so saving time is our biggest concern. We drive down the night before and stay in CT, so the NH-to-CT part of the drive is the least of my concerns ... it's dark anyway since we do that leg at night!

I would do what Chris suggested. It is not any longer, in fact it may even be shorter. I used to do that drive a lot, 287 to Tappan Zee, 684 to 84.

Avoiding NYC while heading south
 

Jellybean,

I've made the trip from northern NJ to Alton Bay, NH for over 30 years and have found that the quickest route from CT south which avoids NY city is:

84 to East Hartford
91 South to Merritt Pkwy (Route 15) in Meriden CT.
Merritt Pkway to Exit 26 (Rt. 287) across the Tappan Zee Bridge
the Garden State Parkway is only 6 miles from the bridge and saves a ton of tolls over taking 95 to the NJ Turnpike.

Taking the Merritt Parkway vs. 84 also saves 11 miles off the odometer and there are no trucks on the Merritt.

The radio station to listen to is CBS AM (880 on the am dial). This is the sister station to WBZ and gives traffic and weather reports every 10 minutes on the 8's instead of the 3's like on WBZ. They cover southern CT, NY and NJ traffic and weather conditions.

Right now there are no big events scheduled for NY this coming weekend, but I tried taking 95 south to the thruway and the George Washington Bridge. What a terrible ride, the roads through Yonkers and NY city were the pits and the traffic at the bridge was bad even late in the evening. Good luck on your trip. I myself will be heading to Limerick PA that morning. Hope by then all this rain has stopped. We've had 7+ inches so far, and I'm tired of using the wet/dry vac in my basement. I've already emptied it 4 or 5 times so it's close to 20 gallons.

You can always take the ferry from Bridgeport to Port Jefferson and stop by my house for a cup of coffee and then proceed to NYC and NJ.
I have been on the Cross Bronx Expressway at 6:00 on a Saturday in the morning in traffic that was not moving for an hour. Then again I have zipped through at the same time.
Put on radio WCBS - 88 on the dial gives traffic reports on the 8's,
1010 WINS does it on the 1's and
Blumburg radio -1030(?) does traffic on the 5's.

Look at the map and have alternatives decided before you hit the NY/CT line. Welcome to life in NY! Man I wish I lived in NH!!!

great recommendations on the radio stations, portjeff, thank you!!!