RICHMOND, Va. — As the holiday season approaches, many are trying to find the best time to travel in order to avoid heavy traffic.
Brendan King spoke with Morgan Dean, spokesperson for AAA Mid-Atlantic, who said this Sunday, December 22, is expected to be the busiest travel day for drivers.
"If you are looking to get out of town and get that trip in, leaving early in the morning versus the middle of the day is ideal," Dean said. "The middle of the day into the afternoon is when traffic really starts to back up."
AAA advises travelers to leave as early as possible, suggesting a departure by 11 AM today to avoid the heaviest traffic. According to Dean, the worst congestion will begin at 1 PM and last until 8 PM.
Minimal traffic issues are anticipated on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Dean also highlighted an important update regarding Virginia's Move Over Law, which was expanded last summer.
Drivers are now required to slow down and move over for any vehicle displaying hazard lights or emergency warning signs.
"Whenever any vehicle is stopped on the side of the road, if they've got hazard lights on, they've got flares around the vehicle, or they got emergency warning signs like the triangle on the back of it, slow your vehicle down, move over, give them that space," Dean stated.
Air travel is also set to be busy this holiday season, with AAA estimating that 185,000 Virginians will be traveling by air. Travelers are reminded to arrive at the airport at least two hours before their flight to handle any potential issues.
Crowds have already begun to gather at Richmond International Airport (RIC), as reported by Cameron Thompson, who provided video of long security lines stretching across the terminal.
Brendan also spoke to Rob McNamara, Alex Swindon, and Emma Roland from the United Kingdom who spent the last week visiting family in Chesterfield County.
"The thing that we've enjoyed the most is definitely seeing all your Christmas trees and how you decorate here," Roland explained.
The family was flying out of RIC to Orlando, Florida where they will embark on a two-week cruise to the Caribbean.
"We like the sunshine. We always spend the holidays at home, but we want to be different this year," McNamara said.
They noted the lines at RIC were much quicker than those at Heathrow Airport in London where they flew out of a few weeks ago.
Richmond comedian Jayski arrived early to RIC to confirm that his flight to the Sin City was on-time to perform six shows this weekend.
"Make sure you got all your stuff, no extra big bottles of liquid or big bottles of water, so you can flow through that thing easy, because this is a small airport," Jayski advised. "I've been a lot of airports, but sometimes, like now, you go around the corner and the line will be all the way to the back. You're like, 'Oh, my God, I'm gonna be late!'"
He was worried about potential impacts that a government shutdown could have on the TSA federal workers.
"I wouldn't mind being stuck in Vegas," Jayski joked.
Richmond was not experiencing any flight cancellations Friday morning, but passengers were advised to arrive with ample time to catch their flights.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
📲: CONNECT WITH US
Facebook|Instagram|X|Threads|TikTok
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
