How to Avoid Traffic Jams on 4th of July
Holiday traffic is rush hour on steroids. Vacation travelers often include a ton of people who don’t normally drive, and they all inevitably drive along the roads you need to take to your destination.
Since July 4th falls in the middle of the week this year, we’re not likely to see as much holiday traffic as usual, but it definitely will. To help tackle this problem, Google has created an interactive site where you can look at general traffic trends and determine the best and worst time for holidays in your area. Spoiler alert: The answer is almost always early in the morning.
To create the site, Google analyzed historical, aggregated and anonymous data from Google Maps traffic data last year from July 3rd to 6th.
In general, the best time to go on an adventure is early morning or late evening on July 3rd. On July 4th, the worst time to go out for walks is noon, with traffic peak at 15:00. After the fireworks, the best time to head home is 11:00 pm, which allows you to skip the rush after the show.
Here’s the traffic graph you can expect in 25 major cities in the US on July 4th:
If you want to pin things down to a specific city, Google’s interactive site also lets you search for traffic jams throughout the week and determine the best and worst times to drive. You can access this here .