WASHINGTON — Are you traveling for Thanksgiving weekend? You are so not
alone.
And a new report from the National Capital Region Transportation Planning
Board
finds that despite what you may think, Tuesday afternoon is worse than
Wednesday to leave for Thanksgiving.
The study used anonymous data from various apps like Inrix, Waze and
Google to determine the average speed for a vehicle minute by minute during
the holiday week.
On top of that, AAA Mid-Atlantic says that this coming holiday — always the
heaviest weekend
of
the year for travel — will see the most travelers since 2007.
An estimated
1,138,300 people in the Washington metro area will travel 50 miles or more for
Thanksgiving this year, AAA says. That’s nearly one out of five residents.
“The reason Tuesday is worse, maybe people think Wednesday is going to be
worse and so they try and get on the road early and in so doing, create a
second rush hour,” says Ben Hampton, transportation planner at TPB.
“Wednesday is not good by any measure. It’s still worse than a typical
Wednesday, and is on par, or probably worse than a typical Friday. The
getaway traffic lasts longer on Wednesday, spread out of more hours,” he adds.
WTOP veteran traffic report Bob Marbourg agrees with these findings, in
general.
“People trying to get to their Thanksgiving destination start earlier each
year. No longer the Wednesday, no longer the Tuesday. Maybe Monday, over
this weekend, or at the end of this week,” says Marbourg.
In all, about 89 percent of holiday travelers will be driving, and AAA
spokesman Lon Anderson says that’s
because
filling up the tank is easier than it has been in nearly five years.
“We’re experiencing the lowest gas prices since December 2010, prompting more
people to hit the road this Thanksgiving,” Anderson says.
AAA projects that it’ll be a huge travel weekend nationwide as well, also with
the most travelers since 2007.
Thanksgiving travelers will journey an average of 549 miles round-trip, AAA
predicts, and spend an average of $573 over the weekend.
Google and WTOP have some tips for those hitting the
road for
Thanksgiving:
- Avoid traveling on Wednesday. For most cities, the Wednesday before
Thanksgiving is the worst traffic day. There are some exceptions, however.
Boston’s busiest is Tuesday, Honolulu and Providence are busiest on Saturday
and San Francisco’s is Sunday. - Beat the rush. If you have to leave Wednesday, try to do so outside
of the busiest time, which falls between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. It is better to
leave before 2 p.m. or after 7 p.m. Wednesday. - Drive on Thanksgiving. Thursday — Thanksgiving Day — usually has
the least amount traffic in the entire week. It may pick up from noon until
about 2 p.m., but even then, it’s light. - Use mapping resources. The Virginia Department of Transportation
has released an interactive Travel-Trend Map
for Thanksgiving. The map shows the more congested roads in the
commonwealth and uses data from recent years, broken down in 30-minute
intervals.Maryland has interactive maps
with video cameras to show where traffic is located.D.C. also has traffic cameras on its
website. - Travel home Sunday. You’re better off driving home from a long
weekend on Sunday rather than Saturday because traffic can be up to 40 percent
worse on Saturday. - Be prepared for D.C.-area traffic. The D.C. area, Philadelphia and
Austin are the three cities that saw the biggest increases in traffic during
Thanksgiving week. - Don’t wait to shop. The top three Google Maps trends the day before
Thanksgiving are “ham shop,” “pie ship” and “liquor store” as people get
last-minute needs. Getting the groceries together beforehand can help you
avoid the crowds and traffic at stores. - Anticipate Christmas shopping. Black Friday Google Map trends
include Christmas shopping. The top two terms are “Christmas tree farm” and
“festival,” so be prepared for bigger crowds at holiday-themed events. - Tune in to WTOP. To get the latest traffic news, be sure to visit
the WTOP traffic page and listen live on WTOP.com.
Related Stories:
- VDOT releases cheat sheet for holiday travel
- Get ready for crowded airports this Thanksgiving
- Travel Roundtable: Thanksgiving transit advice
WTOP’s Ari Ashe contributed to this report. Follow @WTOP on Twitter and WTOP on Facebook.
