WASHINGTON — Travel experts at AAA expect holiday travel to be closer to pre-pandemic levels in 2022. According to AAA's 2022 Thanksgiving travel forecast, 54.6 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home this Thanksgiving. That’s a 1.5% increase over 2021 and 98% of pre-pandemic volumes. This year is projected to be the third busiest for Thanksgiving travel since AAA started tracking in 2000 behind 2005 and 2019, respectively.
Transportation analysists at INRIX, which translates uses in-car data to create safety insights, say peak travel times on the roads will be Wednesday, Nov. 23.
“Thanksgiving is one of the busiest holidays for road trips, and this year will be no different,” said Bob Pishue with INRIX. “Although travel times will peak on Wednesday afternoon nationally, travelers should expect much heavier than normal congestion throughout the holiday weekend. Knowing when and where congestion will build can help drivers avoid the stress of sitting in traffic.”
Here are the best and worst times to travel by car:
Wednesday, Nov. 23:
Best:
Before 8:00 AM, After 8:00 PM
Worst:
11:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Thursday, Nov. 24:
Best:
Before 11:00 AM, After 6:00 PM
Worst:
11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Friday, Nov. 25:
Best:
Before 11:00 AM, After 8:00 PM
Worst:
4:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Saturday, Nov. 26:
Best:
Before 2:00 PM, After 8:00 PM
Worst:
4:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Sunday, Nov. 27:
Best:
Before 11:00 AM, After 8:00 PM
Worst:
4:00 PM – 8:00 PM
If you're not traveling, you should still expect heavier than average traffic.
AAA said on Wednesday, Nov. 23:
- I-495 anticlockwise from Junction 27 to Junction 45 will see a 51% increase over typical traffic.
- I-95 north J170A to J22A will see a 32% increase over typical traffic.
- I-270 north J1 to J32 will see a 32% increase over typical traffic.
- I-95 south J29B to J15 will see a 24% increase over typical traffic.
On Sunday November 27, I-95 south J170A to J160 will see an 85% increase over typical traffic.
For more stats and details, check out the full forecast here.