Newsletter
Thanksgiving is almost here, bringing many things with it. Family. Togetherness. Great food. Fun times. Heavy traffic. Very, very heavy traffic. Most folks won’t have the whole week, or even more than one day, off work to skirt around holiday traffic and stay with family until the big feast, so it’s to be expected that driving on Thanksgiving day, or even the day before, will be difficult and rather frustrating, to put it nicely. Google has, in their usual spirit, made an attempt to save the day by analyzing traffic and coming up with a list of pointers that may just get you to grandma’s house in time to not miss the phenomenal homemade pumpkin pie. The data was pulled from the Denver gridlock, but should be applicable in most major metros and surrounding areas.
The first tip is to not travel on Wednesday around 3 P.M. According to Google’s data, this is when the worst traffic is out and about. The second one, which is a bit of a surprise, is to travel on Thanksgiving day, particularly before noon and after 2 P.M. If you go out for the weekend, try to come back Sunday rather than Saturday. Google’s data indicates that Saturday traffic is about 34 percent worse than Sunday. Finally, if at all possible, try not to travel on the Tuesday before the big day or the Saturday afterwards; Google has found these to be the second and third heaviest traffic days, respectively, coming in right behind the Wednesday right before the celebration.
These tips should help you get where you’re going for Thanksgiving more quickly and easily, but always keep your particular area and unorthodox hazards in mind, such as local construction, charter busses if applicable and always take great care entering and exiting the highway when traveling on high-traffic days like the holiday season.
Google has never been a stranger to humanitarian efforts, so their devotion of resources to help the common man get their hands on some green bean casserole while it’s still hot is no surprise, and a bit of a nod to just the kind of Google that Alphabet will give us.