Photo: Getty Images
Bay Area drivers leaving the region for Thanksgiving this year are expected to see absurd amounts of traffic.
More families are expected to travel and gather for the holidays for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"In California we're expecting about 7 million people traveling for Thanksgiving, roughly 86% are going to be doing it in a vehicle," Sergio Avila, a spokesperson for American Automobile Association Northern California, Nevada, Utah told SFGATE. "There are going to be a lot of folks on the road. Compared to last year [2020], that's a 13% increase."
If you're planning on driving to Thanksgiving dinner, you may want to pick travel times when fewer cars are likely to be on the road.
AAA released a guide for the best and worst times to drive based on data collected by the app Inrix which advises users on the best times to leave based on real-time and historical traffic data.
Here are the worst times to get on the road in the Bay Area this week:
- Wednesday: noon to 8:00 P.M.
- Thursday: noon to 3:00 P.M.
- Friday: 1:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M.
- Saturday: 2:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M.
- Sunday: 1:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M.
And these are the best times to get on the road:
- Wednesday: after 9:00 P.M.
- Thursday: 11:00 A.M.
- Friday: before 11:00 A.M.
- Saturday: before noon
- Sunday: before noon