Traffic and Weather Could Prove Messy for East Coast Thanksgiving Travel

Last Thanksgiving, the number of people from the Philadelphia 5-county region traveling by railcar, by motor coach or by a low-cost bus service and by cruise ship increased by 50 percent over the 2011 Thanksgiving travel period, with 12,000 area residents making long-distance trips by those transportation modes, according to AAA.

Nationwide, 1.3 million Americans traveled to their Thanksgiving destination by buses, by coach-class train travel, by watercraft, and by multi-modal travel last year. These passengers comprised 2.9 percent of all people traveling 50 miles or more from home during the 2012 Thanksgiving travel period.

If past patterns hold true, the vast majority of all holiday travelers – nearly nine out of ten - will hit the highways for the busy Thanksgiving holiday traveler period. 

Twenty-five million passengers will fly over the Thanksgiving holiday, a major airline industry trade group, Airlines for America (A4A), is predicting. That figure comprises 1.5% increase from last year, according to A4A.

Complicating matters is weather. According to Weather.com, "Weather will difficult for most East Coast travelers on the day before Thanksgiving. A complex interaction between storm systems in the northern and southern branches of the jet stream will lead to a potpourri of inclement weather."

Will you be traveling out of the area this week? If so, how are you managing the crowds and traffic?