Avoid the traffic nightmare: Best and worst times to travel by car for Independence Day road trips

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There is no doubt Americans are on the move this Fourth of July holiday. In fact, TSA officers screened 2,921,490 people at airport checkpoints nationwide yesterday, June 27. 2.9 million people is the TSA all-time single day record and today, airport security checkpoints are expected to break 3 million people for the first time. To put it in perspective: One year ago on the same day, that number was: 2,759,141 and five years ago (pre-pandemic) on the same day, it was 2,711,222. RELATED: How to protect your belongings on a road trip

This holiday, Americans are certainly taking to the skies but even more are hitting the road and the numbers are epic. “AAA projects 70.9 million travelers will head 50 miles or more from home over the Independence Day holiday travel period*. For the first time, AAA looked at the entire July 4th week, plus the Saturday before and the Sunday after the holiday. This year’s projected number of travelers for that time period is a 5% increase compared to 2023 and an 8% increase over 2019.”

So the big question is: When is the best time to hit the road to avoid getting stuck in nasty traffic? AAA reports:

AAA, in partnership with INRIX, a provider of transportation data and insights, also provides specific advice for major metropolitan areas. They say “the worst times to travel by car before and on July 4th are between 2pm and 7pm. Drivers should hit the road in the morning, and travelers returning on Monday, July 8th should avoid rush hour traffic in the morning and afternoon.” See the detailed chart below:

For more information, check out AAA‘s website and consider signing up to their program to get discounts on all things travel, including hotels and train tickets.