The Best and Worst Times to Drive This July 4th Weekend, According to AAA
The price of a gallon of gasoline may still hover around $5, but that doesn’t stop people from hitting the road this coming July 4th weekend. In fact, experts from the American Automobile Association (AAA, also known as the “Troika A”) expect 47.9 million people to drive at least 50 miles from home between June 30 and July 4, of which a potentially record-breaking 42 million people will drive. to drive by car.
With so many vehicles on the road, if you don’t go on a trip late at night, you’re bound to hit a traffic jam along the way, especially if you’re leaving a big city. Luckily, AAA looked at maps and travel trends, crunched the numbers, and made predictions for the best and worst times to travel by car over the holiday weekend.
The best and worst time to travel by car on July 4th weekend
If your July 4th weekend travel plans currently include getting in and flying in a car, you might want to reconsider, especially if you’re leaving on the Thursday or Friday before the holiday, which AAA expects to be peak traffic days. Instead, consider what their experts predict will be the best and worst times to hit the road this weekend:
Thursday, June 30
- Worst time : 14-20 hours.
- Best time : before 7 am / after 8 pm
Friday, July 1
- Worst time : 12-9 pm.
- Best time : before 10:00 / after 21:00.
Saturday 2 July
- Worst time : 14-16 hours.
- Best time : before 12:00 / after 19:00.
Sunday 3 July
- Light traffic expected throughout the day
Monday 4 July
- Light traffic expected throughout the day
It’s great that AAA is optimistic about the absence of traffic on Sunday and Monday, but if they predict record car trips, people will have to go home at some point. So when should they return? Turns out MarketWatch had the same question and contacted AAA for an answer.
“Everything about Fourth is set for fireworks culminating on the evening of July 4 at 9:30 p.m.,” Andrew Gross, a spokesman for AAA Inc., told the financial website . “We suspect that probably many people are simply extending this holiday until the next day [Tuesday, July 5].”
Unfortunately, Gross didn’t specify the best and worst times to travel on July 5th, so you’ll have to act on your own or take another day off and leave on July 6th.