The just-completed morning rush hour was lighter than normal, but traffic is expected to build throughout the afternoon as motorists hit the road for the long holiday weekend. Here’s what you need to know if you’re among the more than 925,000 Georgians that AAA is predicting will travel more than 50 miles by car this weekend:
Timing and likely trouble spots: Backups this afternoon "will be intense all over town and especially worse than normal on I-75 on the south side," said Doug Turnbull in the AM 750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB Traffic Center.
“I think the brake lights are going to start downtown just after lunch, and then early this afternoon, it’s going to start getting really bad on 75 on the south side,” Turnbull told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, adding that the other big trouble spot is likely to be Ga. 400 headed north toward Lake Lanier.
Traffic on the rest of the metro interstates will probably be "10 or 15 percent worse" than on a normal Friday, Turnbull predicted. Keep up with traffic-related updates here.
GDOT doing its part: The Georgia Department of Transportation has suspended all construction-related lane closures, beginning at noon today and continuing through 5 a.m. Tuesday.
Troopers watching for impaired drivers: The Georgia State Patrol will be focusing on impaired drivers and seat belt violations during the 78-hour Memorial Day travel period, which begins at 6 p.m. today and ends at midnight Monday.
Col. Mark McDonough, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety, said troopers will be “conducting road checks and high-visibility patrols” in an effort to keep holiday crash statistics as low as possible.
During last year’s Memorial Day travel period, troopers investigated 650 crashes that resulted in six fatalities and 366 injuries.
The highest number of traffic deaths on Georgia roads during the Memorial Day holiday weekend occurred in 2005, when 32 people were killed in crashes. The lowest number, five, was recorded in 2010.
Weather not an issue: There's only a slight chance of rain this weekend, so the roads should be mostly dry. Channel 2 meteorologist Karen Minton said the chance of rain is just 10 percent today and Saturday, and 20 percent Sunday and Monday.
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