Maryland State Highway Administration Talks Hitting the Road for Thanksgiving

(CAMBRIDGE, Md) – Millions across the country are taking to the road this weekend, and in Maryland it’s going to be no different.

Charlie Gischlar with the State Highway Administration lays out what people can expect as Thanksgiving travel ramps up this weekend.

Charlie tells WMDT, “On Tuesday of next week is when we’re really expecting, a lot of traffic, especially during the morning and afternoon rush hours. And then, of course, Wednesday, mostly during the midday…”

According to AAA, more than 81 million people are planning to travel between Friday and Monday, December first, with an estimated 73 million of those people traveling by car.

Maryland is a major through point for drivers, especially if they’re crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

“So we’re going to have a lot of transient traffic coming from the north, from Maine, and everything south from there, and then north from Florida and everything north from there. So Maryland just happens to sit right in the middle of the Mid-Atlantic. So, you’re going to see possibly hundreds of thousands of vehicles,” says Charlie.

That increase in the number of cars also means a higher potential for stops.

Charlie tells us that for every one minute a car is stopped on the road, traffic backs up for up to four minutes.

And in the event of a breakdown like that on the road, it’s imperative to do one thing.

He says, “Stay inside your vehicle. We’ve seen bad consequences when people get out of there, become involved in a crash, or if their vehicle breaks down and then dial #77….”

In that same report from AAA, over 600 thousand drivers needed emergency roadside assistance nationwide.