VDOT: Past Traffic Patterns Predict Peak Holiday Congestion

So motorists can better time their trips to avoid heavy congestion during the peak Thanksgiving travel period (Wednesday, Nov. 21-Sunday, Nov. 25), VDOT has posted detailed maps online showing expected periods of heavy traffic on Virginia’s interstates. VDOT created these maps using traffic information based on vehicle-probe data from the past three years.

The travel-trend maps are at http://people.virginia.edu/~seb4v/TG/Thanksgiving.html.

The maps indicate the varying amounts of interstate traffic by time of day, using red for heavy congestion, yellow for moderate and green for little or no congestion.

To use the map, slide the button along the date bar at the top of the map to update predicted traffic information at half-hour intervals between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. for each day. You can also zoom and pan to specific areas of the state.

Based on the historic traffic data, the heaviest congestion is likely to occur Sunday, Nov. 25, in the afternoon and evening, with some congestion on Saturday, Nov. 24, evening as well.

While this information indicates trends for delays during the most recent Thanksgiving holiday weekends, it cannot precisely predict congestion levels for this year’s five-day travel period.

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