What To Know About Travel In MA Before Christmas, New Year's

MASSACHUSETTS — High traffic volumes and a nasty winter storm may add up to a more unpleasant Christmas travel experience in 2022.

Millions of people will begin hitting the roads for Christmas travel as soon as Thursday (and probably sooner), which means long lines at Logan Airport, and traffic backing up at choke points along the Mass Pike, I-93 and Route 128.

If you are driving, you can use MassDOT's travel dashboard to see forecasts for traffic, including average speed times for different parts of the state.

In its usual pre-holiday bulletin, MassDOT warned travelers to take extra time this year, and use public transportation when possible.

Here are the key travel messages from MassDOT heading into the back-to-back holiday weekends:

Construction — All projects shut down statewide at 5 a.m. Friday until Tuesday. It'll be the same over the New Year's weekend starting Dec. 30.

HOV Lanes — The I-93 HOV between Boston and Quincy will open early at 2 p.m. Thursday, and 1 p.m. on Friday. Same goes for the Thursday and Friday before New Year's weekend. The I-93 HOV lanes will be closed on Dec. 26 and Jan. 2, which are federal holidays.

Sumner Tunnel — The vital link leaving Logan Airport has been closed almost every weekend for months, but will stay open over the Christmas and New Year's weekends. At the same time, the Sumner Tunnel swing lane will be closed on both Dec. 26 and Jan. 2.

Logan Airport — MassDOT is urging travelers to use either the Silver Line, Blue Line or Logan Express to get to and from Logan.

RMV — All offices will be closed on the federal holidays Dec. 26 and Jan. 2.

Gas Prices — They hit a three-month low this week at about $3.36 per gallon on average state wide. But you can find many stations offering gas at less than $3 per gallon, according to GasBuddy.