BuffettNews.com

Hello all, planning on driving from Fort Lauderdale to Key West either Friday Feb 8th afternoon or early evening or Sat Feb 9th in the morning. Having never done the drive before I was wondering what to expect traffic wise on friday afternoon early evening and or saturday morning. Thanks for any advice in advance. Cheers!

If you are accustomed to driving in the N.E. or California, you probably expect bad traffic at any of those times. But driving thru S.Fla wil not be like going thru Boston or DC on a Friday. I visited S.Fla (drivng down to Key West) in early-mid February, and I did not encounter much traffic. It's too early for the Spring Breakers. Right between the urban areas and the near suburbs you'll find some rush hour traffic, but it doesn't last for 3-4 hours like it does in the N.E. Once you hit open road, it'll be smooth sailing. Of course, one bad traffic accident can really slow down your drive through the Keys. But hopefully you'll have your beach mindset, and just relax and enjoy the view.

Have a good trip.

bravedave wrote:If you are accustomed to driving in the N.E. or California, you probably expect bad traffic at any of those times. But driving thru S.Fla wil not be like going thru Boston or DC on a Friday. I visited S.Fla (drivng down to Key West) in early-mid February, and I did not encounter much traffic. It's too early for the Spring Breakers. Right between the urban areas and the near suburbs you'll find some rush hour traffic, but it doesn't last for 3-4 hours like it does in the N.E. Once you hit open road, it'll be smooth sailing. Of course, one bad traffic accident can really slow down your drive through the Keys. But hopefully you'll have your beach mindset, and just relax and enjoy the view.

Have a good trip.

Pretty much this. A good portion of the road is two-lanes in each direction, so traffic moves pretty smoothly. I'd recommend going in the morning, taking your time, and make a half-day trip of it. There's a lot of fun places to stop, especially if you've never done the drive before.

There is a bar every 8 feet so I have never gotten over 4 mph.

drunkpirate66 wrote:There is a bar every 8 feet so I have never gotten over 4 mph.

once you get to the Keys. do NOT speed stop at Alabama Jacks I would plan for all day

We make this drive every year in July. We've never had problems with traffic, unless there's a wreck. There are two paths you may take. The traditional US 1 route to Key Largo. Or the locals route down Card Sound Road to North Key Largo. As mentioned there are bars every few feet. We've done the Caribbean Club at mile marker 104. Alabama Jack's on Card Sound Road. The No Name Pub on Big Pine Key. This year we're stopping at Mangrove Mama's on Summerlin Key. Safe travels!

It's a longer trip than you think it is. I did a turnaround from Miami and even with light traffic we only had time to spend a couple of hours in KW before turning back to Miami. We had to come back a few years later and spend a week there.

Give yourself the maximum amount of time to enjoy it.

We did this exact thing several years ago. Flew to Ft. Lauderdale, rented a convertible and drove to Key West.

Awesome trip, but don't plan on "making good time."

Traffic isn't that heavy, but the nature of two lane roads means that you can only go so fast.

My big pieces of advice.... Spring for the convertible.... Stop whenever something looks interesting... and don't eat at the chain restaurants. Too many neat little restaurants along the way. We were able to sniff out the good ones by simply looking at the parking lot. Meal time and a full parking lot = probably good place to eat.

Have fun. Wish I was going along.