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Hitting the road for Thanksgiving? You'll be joining nearly 80 million other people traveling for the holiday, auto club AAA says, with most of them going by car -- and some days are expected to be filled with traffic.
O'Hare and Midway International Airports will be busy too, the Chicago Department of Aviation said, with nearly two million people expected to pass through both airports through Monday, Dec. 2.
Those numbers are expected to make Thanksgiving 2024 one of the busiest travel periods on record, experts say. If you are packing up and heading out this this week, here's what to expect.
When will traffic be at its worst?
Wednesday, Nov. 27 is one of the worst days to travel by car during Thanksgiving week, transportation analytics company INRIX said.
According to AAA, drivers should leave before 10 a.m. Wednesday if possible, with times between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. expected to be the busiest.
Things on the roads should be smooth sailing however on Thanksgiving Day, experts said, as the least amount of traffic is expected Thursday.
Local
For a return trip, AAA recommends travelers come home Monday, Dec. 2, rather than Sunday, Dec. 1, when a "peak congestion period" is expected, particularly in the Chicago area.
Illinois drivers can expect to see the biggest backups around 3:45 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 1, with I-65 between Indianapolis and Chicago expected to see some of the worst congestion, INRIX said. At that time, drivers will see 45% more traffic on the roads.
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Overall, as many as 8.9 million vehicles are expected to travel on the Illinois Tollway system between Wednesday and Sunday, the Illinois Department of Transportation said, with Wednesday expected to be the heaviest traffic day. And while some construction projects will be paused to make room for more cars, others will not -- including the Kennedy Expressway rehabilitation project, where express lanes will remain closed.
Gas Prices
But there's some good news, too: Drivers should get a slight break on gas prices.
The nationwide average price for gasoline was $3.07 a gallon on Tuesday, down from $3.25 at this time last year. By Thanksgiving Day, the national average could be below $3 a gallon, experts say -- the first time since 2021.
Will the weather cooperate?
In the Chicago area, the Thanksgiving forecast looked dry but cold, with a high temperature of 37 degrees, the NBC 5 Storm Team said. But an Arctic blast in parts of the Midwest and wet weather in the Eastern U.S. could disrupt travel over the next several days.
A storm system that moved across the West Coast was forecast to bring heavy snow Wednesday to the Intermountain West, including the Rockies in Colorado, the Bitterroot Range in Idaho and Montana, and the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
For Thanksgiving Day, forecasters expect clear weather over the western two-thirds of the country but a mix of rain and snow from Michigan and Ohio through New England.
Temperatures were in the high 30s in Chicago on Tuesday, but that was fine with Kristy Vincent of Houston, who landed at O’Hare Airport.
“I’m so excited. There’s not snow. I’m not going to freeze to death,” Vincent said, adding that she was “a little worried” about weekend forecasts calling for highs in the 20s.
