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What's the best day to drive this week? Here's AAA's Thanksgiving travel advice
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It's a short-week Monday. Nearly a quarter of all Massachusetts residents are expected to go on a road trip this week to visit friends or family for Thanksgiving. That's a lot of extra cars on the road! What's the strategy for ducking the traffic?
Let's start today with a look at the best and worst times to drive:
Turkey traffic: Thanksgiving is the single busiest American travel holiday of the year. Across the country, AAA forecasts that 82 million people will travel over 50 miles for the holiday, topping the estimates for the Fourth of July and Memorial Day by millions, if not tens of millions. In Massachusetts, nearly 2 million people are expected to travel for the holiday, 1.7 million of them by car. And that's in addition to all the people who are already on the roads doing their normal commute to work.
- So when's the best time to beat the traffic? Today (or this past weekend), said AAA Northeast spokesperson Jillian Young. " Early is the name of the game — both in terms of time of day and time of week," Young told WBUR's Cici Yu.
- When's the worst time? Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to be the most heavily congested days — particularly between around 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. Young says to "hit the road in the morning if you can" if you're traveling on those days.
- What about traveling on Thanksgiving? If you're not on the hook to prep the turkey, AAA expects minimal traffic impacts on the holiday itself.
- PSA: Before heading out, now is a good time to check your car battery and tire pressure, according to Young. "AAA responded to nearly 600,000 emergency roadside calls last Thanksgiving period to help drivers with issues like dead batteries, flat tires and empty fuel tanks," she said.
Students speaking up: Northeastern University's student government association has sent the school's president several proposals it believes would improve students' sense of belonging on campus. WBUR's Suevon Lee reports the action follows a recent campus survey where students expressed some frustration with university policies around protests and other forms of speech.
- What are they calling for? One proposal calls for the removal of a requirement that students register at least seven days in advance before holding a demonstration. Another calls for scrapping a rule that bans any message sent over a university server that the school deems "offensive" or "annoying." "The fact that the university gets so much discretion and provides broad definitions in their policy means that students have to second-guess themselves when they want to speak out," said Zi Glucksman, policy director for the Educational Freedom Project, a student group that spearheaded the proposals.
- What's next? The students sent the proposals to Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun last week. Representatives for the school declined an interview but said in a statement that its students represent "a diversity of perspectives."
Sign of the season: Boston's Frog Pond reopens for ice skating today. To celebrate the annual opening, they're summoning local Harry Potter fans to join them for a "House Pride Skate Night" from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. with cast members from the touring play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." There'll also be a chance to win tickets to the play, which is showing at the Emerson Colonial Theatre through Dec. 20.
- Know before you go: Whether you're headed to the Frog Pond for a regular day of skating or tonight's event, admission is free for those under 4-foot-10 and $12 for anyone taller than that. You can rent kids' skates for $12 and adult skates for $18.
Recount results: A full hand recount of more than 26,000 ballots in Worcester has confirmed that incumbent Morris Bergman won the sixth and final at-large seat on the city's council. Fellow at-large candidate Jermoh Kamara requested the recount after election night results showed her in seventh behind Bergman by 23 votes. As the Telegram & Gazette reports, the four-day recount only widened Bergman's lead to 32.
P.S.— What's the weather going to be like for Thanksgiving and beyond? Sign up for WBUR’s new Weather Alerts email to know the local forecast when it matters most, whether it's for a long holiday weekend or when a big storm's a comin'.
