Best Apps To Help Marylanders Navigate Memorial Day Traffic

MARYLAND — The holiday rush is just about to begin in Maryland. Travel forecasts call for almost 42 million people to travel over the Memorial Day weekend, including 3.1 million people in the Washington metro area, Maryland and Virginia. So, if you have to travel over the weekend, these apps provide a way to scope out the traffic in advance and hopefully avoid some of the headaches.

Some drivers prefer Waze, and it's probably the easiest to use. Waze will make the drive a little easier by providing crowd-sourced updates on crashes, road conditions, and traffic jams. The free app is available on the App Store and on Google Play.

Google Maps has simple color coding. Red is for slow to a dead stop. Green is for fast. And so on. The highways are outlined in the appropriate color. For live and updating backups, scroll down, find the area you are looking for, click the three dots on the bottom right of that map, then click the box for traffic incidents and slowdowns. As always, dark red is very bad. If it looks bad, you can go to Directions and look for an alternate route.

Inrix is a traffic, navigation and parking app that uses one of the world’s largest driver and vehicle communities to come up with the quickest route of travel. These routes are based on real-time traffic feeds, speed flows, road conditions, and incident reports.

SEE RELATED: Here's When You'll Hit The Most Traffic This Weekend In Maryland

Drivers can plan optimal routes or chart their own course using weather, elevation, curves and more with inRoute Route Planner. The app helps drivers navigate safely with voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions that automatically check their route for severe weather.

For those driving in more rural areas, CoPilot does not need a mobile connection, so there’s no risk of being left stranded without maps in mobile dead spots.

Maryland 511 is Maryland's official travel information service. For a listing of all current Roadway events, click here: Traffic Events.

Drivers can also download the free AAA Mobile app. All travelers can use the app to map a route, find lowest gas prices, and search for AAA Approved Auto Repair facilities, while AAA members can access exclusive member discounts, make travel arrangements, and request AAA roadside assistance, as well.