Athens, GA area to PIRC - best route?

[Steve Davis]

Running a moho + trailer, wondering what is the best route. Looks like LOTS of TOLL ROADS between here and there - and those add up quickly when you have 4 axles and 10 tires in play. Is it still best to stay on the I's rather than using the state roads? If those state roads are mostly 4 lane, that's fine with me. We don't generally travel faster than about 65, but don't want to be stopping every mile for traffic signals either... nor every 5 for toll booths.

Seems someone from the Atlanta area has made that trip before. This will be our first into that part of PA.
Steve, FV80

[Purple Frog]

Steve,
Charlotte has become a mess at times. What about 85 to 26. 26to 81. Then 81 north to 77. 77 thru WVA. Then 79 north.
You have to cross the mountains one way or another. And unfortunately I see the W.VA. Turnpike as the easiest way.

Fortunately the track is worth the trip.

[T-Tom]

Steve,
Charlotte has become a mess at times. What about 85 to 26. 26to 81. Then 81 north to 77. 77 thru WVA. Then 79 north.
You have to cross the mountains one way or another. And unfortunately I see the W.VA. Turnpike as the easiest way.

Fortunately the track is worth the trip.

This sounds like a good path except I77 has either 3 or 4 toll booths. I've made many trips to Charleston and used about as many different ways as you can go. Instead of I26 to I81 to I77, why not continue straight on I26 and it becomes US 119 to Charleston. It is a good 4 lane divided highway all the way to Charleston, WV where you can pickup I64 for about a mile, I77 for another couple of miles and then to I79 to Pittsburgh. No tolls! And very scenic. Good travels.

[problemchild]

I-77 only has a few tolls for a few miles. It is the route I use for Road Atlanta, CMP, Savannah, and Florida. It is my favorite route anywhere I go with some spectacular views. Other than the Charlotte-Mooresville section, traffic is light, speed limits are high, and enforcement low. There are a view climbs, so some people use I-75 instead, but that is longer and not nearly as nice, IMO. And I-85, I-77, 19, I-79 is as close to "as the crow flys" as you could hope for.

Mike is right that the destination track will make the trip worthwhile. And that may be the SCCA FV race of the year, with all those FV entries, and 40+ FFs at Mid-Ohio instead. It would be nice if the F500s asked to be moved to the other OW group and left it all FV.

[Robins Ken]

Running a moho + trailer, wondering what is the best route. Looks like LOTS of TOLL ROADS between here and there - and those add up quickly when you have 4 axles and 10 tires in play. Is it still best to stay on the I's rather than using the state roads? If those state roads are mostly 4 lane, that's fine with me. We don't generally travel faster than about 65, but don't want to be stopping every mile for traffic signals either... nor every 5 for toll booths.

Seems someone from the Atlanta area has made that trip before. This will be our first into that part of PA.
Steve, FV80

Over the years I have found keeping rolling and paying the tolls offsets fuel wasted traipsing through small towns.
Cheap fuel in a 454 lets itself be known into a headwind.
Greg is right. The I-75 is horrible.
KR

[DaveW]

This sounds like a good path except I77 has either 3 or 4 toll booths. I've made many trips to Charleston and used about as many different ways as you can go. Instead of I26 to I81 to I77, why not continue straight on I26 and it becomes US 119 to Charleston. It is a good 4 lane divided highway all the way to Charleston, WV where you can pickup I64 for about a mile, I77 for another couple of miles and then to I79 to Pittsburgh. No tolls! And very scenic. Good travels.

We use I 77 any time we go that way. The 3 toll booths on the WV turnpike are, IMO, not very bad at all - rarely congested and easy to use. There are no other tolls on that route from OH to GA. I-pass or equivalent are time & $ savers for the tolls. The steepest long climbs with my ~11K-lb '74 Chevy van and trailer rig are slow, around 55 mph, but there are only a few and they're OK. As long as your tow vehicle is in good shape they shouldn't be an issue.

Local roads, IMO, are always a less desirable option either with the rig or a passenger car. They're just not worth the hassle.

[Ed Womer]

Hey Steve no matter how you get to PA I would highly recommend NOT using the PA turnpike since the tolls are way out of site. I drove to Pitt from just west of Harrisburg in my car last year and my toll each way was in the $30 range since they hit my credit card for easy-pass twice for the trip.

From my place north of Harrisburg we take 322 up to I80 and then down to the track and it is all toll free.

Ed

[mmi16]

Hey Steve no matter how you get to PA I would highly recommend NOT using the PA turnpike since the tolls are way out of site. I drove to Pitt from just west of Harrisburg in my car last year and my toll each way was in the $30 range since they hit my credit card for easy-pass twice for the trip.

From my place north of Harrisburg we take 322 up to I80 and then down to the track and it is all toll free.

Ed

PA Turnpike is one road to keep off of.

On my trips from Maryland to the West I use I-68. Some stout climbs and descents but no tolls. Used PA Turnpike a couple of years ago with just my vehicle - in addition to the outrageous tolls there was a almost 3 hour stone cold stoppage.

[cory mcleod]

From a Charlottean: Be prepared for stop-go traffic on I-77 from the SC/NC state line all the way past Lake Norman, not just on the north side of town.

That being said, I'm not sure there is an alternate route to avoid Charlotte that will save any time. Once in Charlotte, you could take the loop (I-485) around the west side of town, but that would only avoid part of the heavy traffic area.