SAN BERNARDINO – The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 8 is giving everyone a break – there will be no planned lane closures for the Thanksgiving holiday from Wednesday, Nov. 21 at 6:00 a.m., to Monday, Nov. 26 at 6:00 p.m. Be advised that local events may have closures and closures may be necessary for emergencies such as accidents, weather issues or any other unforeseen issues.

The Auto Club is projecting the 2018 Thanksgiving holiday to show travel higher than it’s been since 2005. The traffic volumes are expected to increase 5.1 percent since last year’s Thanksgiving with 3.6 million people traveling by car in Southern California.

The best time to travel is during non-peak hours which is late in the evening or very early mornings. Wednesday has become a high-volume travel day and of course, Sunday when people return from their holiday trip. The highest traffic volume routes are Interstate 15 (I-15) between Fontana and Barstow, Baker to Las Vegas and on Interstate 10 (I-10) between Beaumont and Indio.

Plan ahead, leave plenty of time for delays, stop for food/water and take rest periods. To check for California State Roadside Rest Area status please go to http://www.dot.ca.gov/maintenance/statewidera.html. Use our Caltrans Quickmap to check on traffic conditions at http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/ and weather at https://www.noaa.gov/weather.

As always, please designate a driver – never drink and drive!