Avoid taking the tunnel into New York in the morning and into New Jersey in the evening, if at all possible. If you have a flexible work schedule, travel at off-peak times, not during the height of rush hour.
Log on to a traffic website and look at the tunnel situation before you leave home. If the traffic is more than you can handle, take the Holland tunnel or a bridge, depending on which is more convenient to you.
Park near the tunnel and take one of the buses, so you can relax while someone else worries about the traffic.
Leave beverages at home if you anticipate traffic. You can not pull over in the tunnel, and there are very few elegant options for emptying your bladder while driving in shoulder-to-shoulder traffic.
Grab your tunes or audio book, hop into the car, tune your radio to a station with traffic updates and head toward the tunnel. Listen for the traffic report. If there is a big backup going into the tunnel, listen for whether it's on 495 or Boulevard East and take the other one. You can also take 505 or Park Avenue. Coming from New York? You can approach from 40th, 39th or 38th. If you're traveling during evening rush hour there's very little you can do to avoid the traffic.
Pop in your music or audio book and move with the commuter traffic. There's little you can do to avoid the commute traffic at the tunnel entrance, but it should keep moving even if it's slow.
