The three-day weekend is almost here! And if you're planning to escape the fog by road tripping to sunnier locales, it's certain you won't be alone on the road this weekend. About 36.6 million travelers will hit the roads this Memorial Day weekend, causing travel times in the nation’s most congested cities to be up to 3 times longer than normal. But if you want to avoid the worst traffic, than you need to avoid leaving at certain times.
INRIX and AAA ran the numbers so you can kick-off the summer season without a headache. In San Francisco, the worst time to travel is from 3–5pm on Friday when travel times may be 1.7x longer than normal. And don't think this means you should leave earlier; Drivers will experience the heaviest congestion on Thursday and Friday (May 24-25) evening as commuters mix with holiday travelers on the freeways.
Also in the data: Drivers will find the most expensive year-end gas prices since 2014, with an average increase of 33 cents/gallon. Car rental rates are also at the lowest they’ve been in the past four years, and 11% cheaper than this time last year, though, so you might as well hit the road.