Nov 19, 2023 - News

Best times to travel for Thanksgiving in Chicago

Justin Kaufmann

Illustration of a turkey pulling a suitcase. — Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios

This year we could see one of the busiest-ever Thanksgiving seasons for travel.

Why it matters: With TSA expecting a record 30 million passengers and the reality of Kennedy construction closings, you'll need to plan ahead if you want to avoid any headaches for the holiday.

State of play: Traffic will be heaviest on Wednesday, but it may be worse than usual this year, because IDOT just began inbound Kennedy ramp closings that are in effect for two weeks.

Take the new traffic patterns into account.

Here are the best times to drive this holiday weekend, according to Inrix.

Wednesday: Before 8am or after 8pm
Thanksgiving Day: Before 11am or after 6pm
Friday: Before 11am or after 8pm
Saturday: Before 2pm or after 8pm
Sunday: Before 11am or after 8pm

The worst? Traffic is expected to be 11% higher between 2pm and 6pm on Wednesday and 3pm and 5pm next Sunday.

Be smart: Peep those gas prices. They are currently hovering around $3.65 in the Chicago area, but that could change quickly because of holiday demand.

If you are flying out, O'Hare and Midway are expecting massive crowds. AAA is predicting almost a 7% increase in travel over last year. If that happens, it will be the busiest Thanksgiving since 2005.

The intrigue: You can track waits for TSA checkpoints at O'Hare at FlyChicago.com.

Add Axios on Google

Best times to travel for Thanksgiving in Chicago

More Chicago stories