Here’s When You’ll Hit The Most Traffic This Weekend In Maryland

BALTIMORE, MD — If your Memorial Day weekend plans include piling into the car and joining more than 36 million other drivers on the highway, the worst time to leave home is Thursday evening. All told, 3.1 million people in the Washington metro area, Maryland and Virginia will travel 50 miles or more this weekend. The trouble is, the vast majority of them, almost nine out of every ten holiday travelers from the region, 2.8 million residents, will travel by car.

AAA Mid-Atlantic predicts nearly 890,000 Marylanders will get away between May 24 and 28, a 4.7 percent increase over last year, and the highest number of Memorial Day weekend travelers since 2001. Drivers, especially in already congested traffic areas like metro Washington, D.C., and Baltimore should expect to see delays on major roads that could be double the usual travel time.

What are the best and worst time to go? The worst chokepoints and delays will occur on US 50, heading over both the Severn River Bridge and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, along Interstate 270 (I-270), and up and down Interstate 95, says INRIX. In the Washington, D.C. area, the worst time to travel is Thursday, May 24 from 4:30-7:00 p.m. when the traffic delay will be 2.3 times the normal travel time, notes INRIX. That’s bad news for drivers heading to Ocean City and the beaches of Delaware.

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Some roads will offer more challenges than others. Travelers heading out US 50 W on May 28 at 5:45 p.m. will face delays of nearly 3.5 times the normal trip, which means a trip that would normally take 32 minutes would equate to nearly 2 and a half hours. The Annapolis region will see traffic delays Friday because of graduation at the U.S. Naval Academy, which brings in visitors, including President Trump, who will deliver the commencement speech.

The busiest Memorial Day travel days nationwide are Thursday and Friday in the late afternoon, AAA said, citing the global transportation analytics company INRIX. That's when commuters and holiday travelers will both be on the roads at the same time, AAA says. Depending on your location, that can span from as early as 3 p.m. to as late as 7 p.m.

"Our advice to drivers is to avoid peak commute times in major cities altogether – traveling late morning or early afternoon – or plan alternative routes," said Graham Cookson, chief economist and head of research at INRIX.

Driving to Eastern Shore

If you plan to spend your Memorial Day weekend on the Eastern Shore, call 511 to get real-time traffic details east of the Bay Bridge and, when leaving the shore, points west to the bridge to avoid the worst of the Memorial Day weekend traffic.

You should travel off-peak when heading to and from the Eastern Shore to avoid major traffic delays. The best times to travel the Bay Bridge this weekend are:

• Thursday/Friday – before 10 a.m. and after 10 p.m.
• Saturday – before 7 a.m. and after 5 p.m.
• Sunday/Monday – before 10 a.m. and after 10 p.m.

Check traffic conditions before you hit the road:

• Call 1-877-BAYSPAN (1-877-229-7726) for 24/7 Bay Bridge traffic conditions.
• Visit baybridge.com to view traffic cameras and to sign up for email alerts.
• Follow the MDTA at twitter.com/TheMDTA and facebook.com/TheMDTA.
• Ease your travel with E-ZPass. Visit ezpassmd.com to enroll online and for a list of E-ZPass "On the Go" retail locations.
• Know Before You Go - To view traffic cameras on MDTA roadways, visit mdta.maryland.gov. Call 511 or visit MD511.org for statewide travel information. When you call 511, just say "Reach the Beach." The free phone call can eliminate some of the hassle of your road trip.

Toll Facilities

MDTA officials anticipate the following number of vehicles to travel its toll facilities between Friday, May 25, and Monday, May 28:

• Bay Bridge (US 50/301) – more than 348,000.
• John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway (I-95) – more than 464,000.
• Fort McHenry Tunnel (I-95) – more than 488,000.
• An additional 587,000 vehicles are projected to travel the Francis Scott Key Bridge (I-695), the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel (I-895), the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge (US 40) and the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge (US 301) combined. All totals represent traffic in both directions.

Nationwide, high prices at the pump — usually a deterrent for people considering driving — aren't expected to have much effect this year. Drivers, who account for 88 percent of Memorial Day weekend travelers, will pay the most expensive gas prices in four years. Gas prices averaged $2.72 in April, up 33 cents from last year.

Orlando, Florida, is expected to be this year's most-visited Memorial Day destination in the U.S., AAA said. Other popular destinations this year include Seattle, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Boston, Denver and New York City.

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