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Forum -> Vacation and Traveling

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amother

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 2:07 pm

DH needs to travel from Lakewood to Scranton to be menachem avel at some point.

He's wondering if there's a way to know when there is typically more and less traffic. E.g. he could go Thursday afternoon, Thursday evening, or Friday morning.

I know you can ask Googlemaps how long a trip will take at a given departure time, but does that take holiday traffic into account? Would AAA have better info?

Or does the collective wisdom here have predictions/experience etc?

amother

Burgundy

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 2:10 pm

On Thanksgiving day there shouldn't be much traffic, especially in the morning/early afternoon.

SixOfWands

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 2:18 pm

amother [ Burgundy ] wrote:

On Thanksgiving day there shouldn't be much traffic, especially in the morning/early afternoon.

There will be tons of traffic in the morning, from people going more or less local (2 hours or so commute). There will be less traffic after 1 or 2 pm, and not a lot of traffic on Friday.

ETA sorry for his loss.

Last edited by SixOfWands on Mon, Nov 25 2019, 2:24 pm; edited 1 time in total

imasinger

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 2:23 pm

Can he leave early, like 7 am on Thursday or Sunday?

miami85

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 2:24 pm

Thursday afternoon while people are at their meals--3-5pm should be the ideal time. 1-3 might not be so bad--but its a gamble, and 5-7 people might be passed out in their Turkey-comas and resting for the Black Friday rush.

amother

Jade

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 3:19 pm

try the app waze

mommyhood

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 3:39 pm

Is he going there and back in one day? I think that's way too risky on a short Friday for that many hours of driving unless he's leaving really early in the morning.
The heaviest traffic in my experience is Wednesday afternoon/evening and Sunday. Thursday I haven't had an issue unless I'm going near NYC.

sky

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 3:47 pm

We used to travel a lot Thursday thanksgiving afternoon and evening and the roads were deserted - rest stops were ghost towns.
Wednesday and Friday and Thursday morning will be a lot worse.

amother

Brunette

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 5:16 pm

Our experience in the midwest a few years ago was that Friday was a ghost town. The highways were empty, people were driving to local malls. Still might be risky to do a round trip on erev Shabbos.

amother

Mon, Nov 25 2019, 5:16 pm

If he goes Friday he will leave very early to get there for Shacharis, so he should be back at a decent time as well.

We were thinking that Thursday afternoon everyone is at their dinner, just weren't sure if most people go back to wherever they live or stay the weekend. So it sounds like either Thurs afternoon or Friday morning should be pretty decent.

We don't have Waze : ) Anyhow, can it predict a day or so ahead? And know the holiday trends (as I was asking above about Google maps)?