Alternate Side Parking will be suspended for Monday, May 28th, Memorial Day.
Thursday is the new Friday when it comes to get-away traffic for Memorial Day weekend. After 3 p.m. Thursday and 1 p.m. Friday, all major roads and crossings will have miles-long backups, including the Holland Tunnel and the Brooklyn Bridge. The Battery Tunnel will be the best crossing out of lower Manhattan to Brooklyn. The Lincoln Tunnel will be a trifle better than the Holland for travel to New Jersey. Once out of Manhattan, every road to the shores and mountains will jammed, including the Long Island Expressway to the Hamptons; the Tappan Zee and George Washington Bridges to upstate; and the Garden State Parkway to the Jersey Shore.
Consider taking the transit to avoid the gridlock. Metro North, Long Island Railroad and NJ Transit will run extra outbound trains Friday after 1 p.m. On Monday, trains will run on a Sunday schedule; also Monday, extra inbound trains will run on Metro North.
If you’re flying, expect the highways feeding into the Van Wyck Expressway by JFK Airport, the Grand Central Parkway by LaGuardia Airport and I-78 by Newark Airport to move at a snail’s pace. Allow yourself an extra 45 minutes to get through the traffic and the long security lines. Construction on Port Authority of NY and NJ and MTA bridges will be suspended during the weekend, 1 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.
We’ll be tweeting Memorial weekend travel tips at www.twitter.com/GridlockSam. Sign up for our e-newsletter at www.gridlocksam.com.
