Thanksgiving traffic can be frustrating but doing a little research and planning ahead of time can certainly cut down on holiday stress. This page provides tips on how to avoid Thanksgiving traffic.
Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days in the U.S.http://www.freep.com/article/20091103/BUSINESS07/911030306/1002/Business/Business-headlines-Busiest-days-travel-surcharge-rises By preparing ahead for your trip, you can learn how to avoid the most crowded routes, reduce stress, and be in a better mood to celebrate Thanksgiving with your family.
Beating the Traffic on Freeways
This video from eHow provides tips on how to avoid traffic on freeways and highways. The driver's advice includes: listen to traffic reports on the radio and travel in the slow lane. "Dr. Roadway" says that the slow lane is the first lane to get off if the traffic comes to a complete stop and that you won't have to worry about moving over from the fast line in a traffic jam.
Step 1: Beat the Rush
- Extra Travel Days
Give yourself an extra day of travel if you can. By leaving a day ahead of all the other holiday travelers, you'll likely find less congested roadways. The same advice goes for the return trip home. Leave a day later if you can.
- Be An Early Bird (Or Night Owl)
You can also beat the traffic rush by leaving extra early when there are less Thanksgiving travelers on the road. If you're up for it, leave after dark and drive overnight.
Step 2: Plan Ahead and Research Alternate Routes
Instead of just mapping out your route, research alternate routes to your destination. This way, if you find yourself stuck in bumper to bumper in an unfamiliar area, you will have another option with possibly lighter traffic. Make use of several mapping websites like Google Maps and Mapquest and get a variety of directions to your destination including the 'fastest' route and routes that use the least amount of highway travel.
Step 3: Get Live Traffic Updates
With today's technology, there are many ways to get live traffic updates while you're on the road. The radio is no longer the only option.
- GPS Traffic Updates
- There are some GPS devices that have a live traffic update feature.
- Twitter
- You can learn about Thanksgiving traffic jams in real-time using Commuter Feed.http://www.commuterfeed.com/
- Websites & Rand McNally's Traffic Alerts
- There are several websites that provide real time Thanksgiving traffic information and Rand McNally offers a mobile phone application called Rand McNally Traffic.http://www.randmcnally.com/rmc/business_solutions/busProductDetail.jsp?prod_id=traffic
References
Fast Facts
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Leave early to beat Thanksgiving traffic
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Plan multiple alternate routes
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Use live traffic updates
