Best Route to North of Boston (Beverly-Salem)

I'm a going home and it's been so long I don't remember how to get there. Planning on leaving at 4 AM or so, but don't know what time I'm coming back (all on weekdays) so need routes for traffic and non-traffic. Would prefer to not take GWB, although I have in the past.

Avoiding GWB, go GSP to TPZ to Merritt to 91 to 84 to 90, and either 95 or 93. (not 100 percent sure where Salem is. Do it all the time at night works like a charm.

I worked in Salem, 2013-2014 school year. Go 87 north. You can get off on 95 at the Tappan Zee, but you'll find inevitable traffic jams, especially around Greenwich and New Haven. So I go due north to 90, turn east on 90, and to get to Salem you turn north on 95 just before Boston. Stay in the left lane, which becomes 128. Good luck. Don't get stuck inside 128 at rush hour! Take 127N to Beverly out of Salem.

My in laws live just north of Beverly in Topsfield. I've found the fastest way to get there, if you don't mind paying the tolls on the pike is: GSP to Tappan Zee to the Saw Mill 684 to 84 to 90 to 128. Takes me about 3.5 to 4 hours to do it depending on traffic and all that.

If you absolutely refuse to pay tolls to Massachusetts, or have an irrational fear of 128 you can do this instead of getting onto 90 from 84:

Take route 20 east to 290 east to 495 north to 114 south and then turn onto 62 in Middleton. 62 will bring you right to Beverly.

Most times of most days it is quicker to get to the coastal sections of New England via the GWB and Merritt. The Tappan Zee adds 7 or 8 miles that are hard to make up unless the entrance to the GW or Cross Bronx are totally screwed, as they sometimes are. That's where a crowd-sourced GPS app like Waze comes in.

Thanks everyone! So many choices! I also printed out Mapquest and Google Map directions. I'm leaving Monday very early morning (trying for 4 am) so Sunday I will pack and sit down and choose a direction plan. I might just do the GWB of I'm feeling brave since it's practically empty at that time. But I also have to think about morning rush hour around Boston.

What is Wave?

WAZE

https://www.waze.com/

wharfrat said:
WAZE


https://www.waze.com/

Still took me over 6 hours today (Maplewood-Lowell)

nan said:
Thanks everyone! So many choices! I also printed out Mapquest and Google Map directions. I'm leaving Monday very early morning (trying for 4 am) so Sunday I will pack and sit down and choose a direction plan. I might just do the GWB of I'm feeling brave since it's practically empty at that time. But I also have to think about morning rush hour around Boston.
What is Wave?

Come to think of it, you'll be hitting Boston around morning rush hour......this is not a good thing to say the least. I'd seriously consider 90->290->495->114->62. It's out of the way but the traffic backups on 128 and 90 can stretch for many miles.

128 s. To 114E was my commute from Rockport to Salem for a full.school year. 114 is clear before 7:00 am, but does fill up, then gets normal around 9:30. It's a secondary route that's worth considering if you land there at the right time.

Thanks, I will be going up to Rockport at some point during the trip.

@nan, Of course you know to avoid 128 south from Rockport to 95 during morning rush hour, and north at evening rush hour! (127 takes longer, but is prettier and not as crowded.)

I love 127. I learned to drive on that road.

Manchester-by-the-Sea, gorgeous!

springgreen2 said:
Manchester-by-the-Sea, gorgeous!

Old Corner Inn (on 127 and a fav hangout when I was in high school). They have a ghost. I was going to stay there for my trip, but decided on a Salem hotel instead (closer to Beverly).

I stayed there for a week! I never saw a ghost...i was alone there a lot. I was waiting for my rental. It was OK, but a bit noisy because a young family was there also. Who is the ghost?

Maybe I'm the ghost?

I learned about the ghost in the 1970's. Never saw him (I think it was a him). Forget the story though. I knew someone who worked and lived there so I used to hang out there with other friends. We were young and thought it was so cool to be there. There was a doctor who lived there then who was a bit strange. I'm sure there is no one there now who was there back then. Except the ghost.

The room was nice and big and I felt like I was in a 1940s movie there. There is a doctor's office in the same building. Nice antiques everywhere.

Might be the same doctor. I think he was somewhat young. Maybe I will stop by.

Stop by and check it out! The beach might be open if it's late enough in the summer.

RobB said:

wharfrat said:
WAZE


https://www.waze.com/

Still took me over 6 hours today (Maplewood-Lowell)

Fridays in the summer are a nightmare... it once took us eight hours to drive from West Orange to Westburyport (north of Salem). Horrible.

We usually use the Tappan Zee/Merritt route, then up 91 and across via 84, but sometimes nothing works.

I'm making a copy of this thread. We're going to a bridal shower for our niece in Marblehead next June. Flying into Logan and renting a car is looking better all the time.

PeggyC said:

RobB said:

wharfrat said:
WAZE


https://www.waze.com/

Still took me over 6 hours today (Maplewood-Lowell)

Fridays in the summer are a nightmare... it once took us eight hours to drive from West Orange to Westburyport (north of Salem). Horrible.
We usually use the Tappan Zee/Merritt route, then up 91 and across via 84, but sometimes nothing works.

One holiday weekend we left early on a Friday afternoon (1:00?) and it took 7 hours...to go 70 miles. Ended up staying the night at a roadside motel. Thankfully it was pre-kids so drinking ourselves to sleep was still an option.

Logan Airport to Marblehead may take some time if you arrive on a weekday afternoon. Try to time it so you arrive in the late morning or very early afternoon. By 1:30 traffic in the whole area starts to gum up.

I noticed an ad in the Sunday NYT touting Newport RI as an "easy commute from Boston." Had to laugh! The only decent commute is the train from South Station to Gloucester/Rockport. Get a cab from Logan to South Station. Once you get to Beverly on the North Shore, rent a car and take rt 114 to Marblehead. You can actually take Amtrak from Penn Station to Boston South Station, then the local to north shore. You might not want to do that with lots of luggage, though.

springgreen2 said:
Logan Airport to Marblehead may take some time if you arrive on a weekday afternoon. Try to time it so you arrive in the late morning or very early afternoon. By 1:30 traffic in the whole area starts to gum up.

Thanks. I wasn't sure what the traffic would be like from Logan Airport to Marblehead, and that helps.

You're welcome. I should note, you can of course get a car rental at Logan, but driving will be complicated and downright scary even with GPS. Call ahead and get a rental in Marblehead, if you'd like to drive.

Driving in Boston is scary even for the people who live there.

Yes. I'll never forget what it felt like the first time I was driving in Dorchester and realized I was sharing the road with a trolley, and other cars, with unclear lanes. As the trolley came toward me (one is never ready for this) I had a moment of panic! However, it was a learning experience.