Marylanders Prepare To Travel For Thanksgiving
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The rush to get somewhere for Thanksgiving is already on and a new study finds one of the busiest days on the road isn't actually the day before Thanksgiving as many suspect.
Derek Valcourt explains why leaving early isn't always better.
Thanks to GPS data and smart phones, data transportation experts say they can now prove roads in our region are actually more congested on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
Like thousands of other holiday travelers, Sue Brooks and her son hit the road early Monday.
"To beat some of the traffic," Brooks said.
And a new report shows they might have made the best decision.
By analyzing GPS and smart phone data from the Thanksgiving week in 2012, transportation experts at the Metro Washington Council of Governments showed on average, traffic Thanksgiving week is at its worse on Tuesday from 3 to 8 p.m., peaking around rush hour when the average highway speeds are more than 20 miles per hour under the limit.
"I think people think that Wednesday is the worst day and so everyone leaves on Tuesday, actually making Tuesday the worst day," said MWCoG Transportation Director Ben Hampton.
But Wednesday isn't all that much better. Traffic gets worse than usual earlier in the day from noon through 5 p.m. The average speeds on area highways hits its slowest at around 3:45. The entire 95 corridor is heavily traveled in the days leading up to Thanksgiving but drivers may find the most congested traffic just south of the DC Beltway.
In all, AAA says 46.3 million Americans are traveling somewhere for Thanksgiving. More than 980,000 of them will be Marylanders---and all that travel does not come cheap.
Hotel rates are up eight percent, to an average $154 per night. Car rentals cost 10% more this year, at $55. Roundtrip airfare is only up one percent, to about $189. With gas prices nationwide hitting a relatively low $2.81 average, drivers like Brooks say her turkey trip will be more enjoyable.
"I'm going to take my time," she said.
With the potential for slick weather on Wednesday, Tuesday could be even busier on the roads with more people trying to get ahead of any storms.
The study finds the busiest day on the roads after Thanksgiving is the following Monday, not Sunday as many people think.
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