On the Road, Volume 3: North and South

South:

I-95 (North Carolina): Three and a half stars

70 mph speed limit, little traffic, and hilarious signs announcing your entry into various counties and irrelevant economic zones (primarily the Global Transpark Development Zone and Northeastern North Carolina Industrial Development Zone). Very few cops. Only downside is some pavement that could use repair, particularly in the right lane.

I-95 (NC/VA border to Richmond): Two and a half stars

Plenty of road space, but too many cops, and I don't appreciate a 65 mph speed limit.

I-95 (Richmond to DC): Negative Four stars

Everyone hates this road, with good reason. There are cops everywhere when traffic is moving, which is never, because there is always a traffic jam. Obviously, this gets worse the more northern you go, but it's always bad, everywhere. My dad gets so frustrated with it he wanted to loop around through Culpeper to take I-66. Luckily for him, I talked him out of it, because the day we drove back there was a truck fire on 66 which closed the road. This meant that 95 was the "preferred" option even though there was about an hour delay.

North:

I-95 (Maryland): Three and a Half Stars

Nothing to quibble with. Little traffic, high speed limit (at least for the Northeast) and reasonable tolls. Oh, and I like the Chesapeake House--Burger King and Popeye's in the same building. Can't beat that.

I-95 North (Delaware): Negative 8 million Stars

You want to charge me $9 to go through 10 miles of your state? Fine, I'll blog about how Delaware is the shittiest state in the Union. They use that fucking 95 toll to fund the entire state's entire transportation budget. What a bunch of fucking assholes. To add insult to injury, there is construction in the southbound lanes, causing about a 30 minute delay.

New Jersey Turnpike: Three Stars

While this is the road that everyone loves to hate, it has decent food options, cheap gas and is usually ok on traffic, although the area between the Penn Turnpike and Trenton can get dicey. Police enforcement is generally light, although I don't like the double fines in the 65 zone. It makes me nervous that I'll get nailed with a massive fine.

I-278: One Star

It gets you where you need to go--in my case, over the Verazzano bridge into and out of Brooklyn. But traffic is often bad, and do you know how much they charge you? $6 going eastbound, and a whopping $9 heading westbound. All Hudson River crossings have the eastbound toll, but a $9 westbound toll? No fucking way. Next time I am taking Canal Street over the Manhattan Bridge and through the Holland Tunnel. Even if it does take me an hour, my stinginess just will not accept a $9 eastbound toll. I wonder who decided to levy that toll anyways. Well, they're not getting my money next time, that's for sure.