Worst Maryland Thanksgiving Travel Day: Delays Should Triple

MARYLAND — It's crunch time for Thanksgiving travel, and Maryland drivers are wondering when they can jump on the road and not sit in traffic jams. The sad fact is there are no good options: Wednesday is the peak of the holiday travel juggernaut in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. region. Delays will be at the absolute worst from 3 to 5 p.m. on Nov. 27; transportation officials say you should leave either before 9 a.m. Wednesday to avoid the gridlock or wait until after 9 p.m.

“Over 3.6 million persons residing in Virginia, Maryland and the Washington metro area will embark on Thanksgiving road trips,” said John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s manager of public and government affairs. “As a result, holiday travelers exiting the area and those staying put for the holiday, will encounter heavier traffic congestion, as well as travel delays that are almost three times longer than the normal delays — if there is such a thing around here — during the afternoon rush hours on any given Wednesday.”

The Wednesday before and Sunday after Thanksgiving are the worst days and times to travel. Traffic delays will triple on the afternoon before Thanksgiving Day on freeways across the national capital area, warn AAA and INRIX, a traffic research firm. Commuters caught up in the mix on the Inner Loop of the Capital Beltway around 3:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving Eve "will have hell to pay," Townsend said. "They will experience and encounter travel peaks nearly 500 percent longer than normal delays on that stretch of roadway, INRIX is projecting."

Here are regional highways with the peak delay time expected on Wednesday, plus the percentage of increased delay, from AAA and INRIX:

• Capital Beltway Clockwise, 3:30 p.m., 473 percent increase
• Capital Beltway Counterclockwise, 4:45 p.m., 225 percent
• I95 S, 3:30 p.m., 224 percent
• I270 N, 4:15 p.m., 205 percent
• I270 S, 6:15 a.m., 122 percent
• I95 N, 3:30 p.m., 111 percent
• US50 E, 4:30 p.m., 93 percent
• US50 W, Thursday, Nov. 28, 6 p.m., 53 percent

The Maryland Transportation Authority urges residents to travel during off-peak hours. Now through Sunday, Dec. 1, more than 3.4 million travelers will use MDTA highways, bridges and tunnels, a slight increase compared to last year's Thanksgiving holiday period.

The accelerated, around-the-clock pace of work along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge rehabilitation project will continue unabated through Thanksgiving week, said the MDTA. Drivers on U.S. 50 eastbound will see a 93 percent increase in travel delays, as highway speeds drop along the roadway to a snail’s pace all the way up to the Easton Municipal Airport, Townsend said.

Day-trippers on westbound U.S. 50 will see heavy traffic starting at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, as travel delays increase as much as 53 percent over normal delays on the stretch of roadway from the Easton Municipal Airport to the periphery of the Bay Bridge.

It is a reminder that “Thanksgiving Day is a more heavily traveled day than Wednesday,” said the United States Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Nearly 1.15 million Marylanders are expected to travel 50 miles or more from their homes during the Thanksgiving holiday travel weekend, a 2.2 percent increase over 2018, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic. Nationally, and in Maryland, this will be the second-highest Thanksgiving travel volume since AAA began tracking in 2000, trailing only the record set in 2005.

“With record levels of travelers, and persistent population growth in the country’s major metropolitan areas, drivers must prepare for major delays,” said Trevor Reed, transportation analyst at INRIX, in a news release. “Although travel times will peak on Wednesday afternoon nationally, travelers should expect much heavier than normal congestion throughout the week.”

INRIX, a global transportation analytics company, expects Wednesday afternoon to be the worst travel period nationally, with trips taking as much at four times longer than normal in major metros.

"This Thanksgiving we will see the most Americans carving time out to visit family and friends since 2005," said Ragina C. Ali, Public and Government Affairs Manager for AAA Mid-Atlantic, in a news release. "The increase in the number of travelers from Maryland taking to the roads, air and other modes of transport, mirrors the national trend."

Best, Worst Times To Cross Chesapeake Bay Bridge

"We're expecting nearly 465,000 vehicles to cross the Bay Bridge during the holiday week, and so we're urging travelers to go early, stay late, and cross the bridge during our recommended travel times, when we expect the least number of vehicles," said MDTA Executive Director Jim Ports. "Stay alert for your safety and the safety of our work crews who are giving up holiday time. And with the holidays upon us, please be courteous to other drivers."

With ongoing construction, the Bay Bridge westbound span's right lane remains closed as crews work day and night, seven days a week, including during Thanksgiving week. Drivers should expect major delays in both directions and plan to leave an extra 20 to 30 minutes early if crossing the bridge, the MDTA said. Recommended times to travel the Bay Bridge during the Thanksgiving holiday are:

Eastbound:

• Tuesday through Friday, Nov. 26-29, before 9 a.m. and after 9 p.m.
• Monday, Dec. 2, before noon and after 8 p.m.

Westbound:

• Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 26-27, before 5 a.m. and after 6 p.m.
• Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 28-Dec. 1, before 9 a.m. and after 9 p.m.
• Monday, Dec. 2, before 5 a.m. and after 2 p.m.

From Wednesday, Nov. 27, through Saturday, Nov. 30, cashless tolling will be in effect at the Bay Bridge from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. During this time only, drivers will be video tolled at the cash rate if they do not have an E-ZPass.

During Thanksgiving week, in addition to the westbound right lane closure, the westbound span may be fully closed from 9 p.m. each night to 5 a.m. During overnight closures, two-way traffic will operate on the eastbound span with one lane in each direction. There will be no two-way traffic on the westbound span during the holiday week unless there is an emergency.
For the latest on Bay Bridge traffic, call 1-877-BAYSPAN (229-7726) or visit baybridge.com to view traffic cameras.

Peak Travel Times On Highways

And at least one checkpoint is planned to target drunk drivers on the road. On Wednesday, Nov. 27, the Maryland State Police Bel Air Barrack will hold a sobriety checkpoint in Harford County. In addition to the checkpoint, extra troopers will be on patrol throughout the weekend conducting DUI patrols.

Drivers caught driving impaired can face jail time, fines, fees, DUI classes, license suspensions and other expenses that can exceed $10,000.

Google Maps used aggregated and anonymized popular time data during the Thanksgiving week to identify when crowds tend to be the largest at popular holiday venues.

Bakeries, grocery stores and liquor stores all hit peak crowd levels between noon and midnight on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Movie theaters and shopping centers, though, have the most activity between noon and midnight on Black Friday.

To determine the best and worst times to drive on Thanksgiving, Google Maps analyzed data from the 2018 "Thanksgiving Holiday Period," which included the Wednesday before Thanksgiving until the end of Sunday after the holiday.