Memorial Day Travel 2023: When To Get Out Of Chicago Area

ILLINOIS — If you’re among the 42.3 million Americans expected to travel 50 or more miles from home over the May 25-30 Memorial Day holiday week, the auto club AAA’s travel forecast gives advance notice on when to get out of the Chicago area and, especially, when to avoid I-94, expected to be the most congested roadway.

AAA expects the six-day period to be the third-busiest since it began measuring Memorial Day travel a decade ago.

Most people will drive. Road trips are expected to be up 6 percent over last year, with about 37.1 million motorists on the roads — about 2 million more people than last year competing for space on highways.

The holiday could be one of the busiest at the nation’s airports since Memorial Day in 2005, with nearly 3.4 million people, an 11 percent increase from 2022, expected to fly.

As a result of lower gas prices compared to last year, “drivers should expect long delays this holiday weekend, especially in and around major metros as commuters mix with Memorial Day travelers,” said Bob Pishue, a transportation analyst at INRIX, AAA’s data partner in the forecast.

The best times to travel by car are in the morning or evening after 6 p.m. The lightest traffic days will be Saturday and Sunday. Major metro areas like Boston, New York, Seattle, and Tampa will likely see travel times double compared to normal.

Here are some tips from AAA as Chicagoland residents plan their road trips:

When you’re leaving, avoid traveling from 3-6 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday. Instead, leave before 1 p.m. on Thursday and noon on Friday.

At the end of the weekend, noon-3 p.m. Monday and 4-6 p.m. Tuesday are expected to be busy. Better times are before 10 a.m. Monday, and before 2 p.m. or after 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

In the Chicago area, the route from Milwaukee to Chicago via I-94 is expected to be about 34 percent busier than usual at the peak time of 5 p.m. Thursday, with an estimated travel time of 2 hours and 42 minutes — an hour longer than usual.

The worst time to make the reverse trip — Chicago to Milwaukee via I-94 — is around 11 a.m. Saturday, with an expected 22 percent increase over the usual travel time.

Even with lower gas prices, travel will be more expensive overall, in large part because of the rising cost of airline tickets. AAA said its booking data shows a 40 percent increase in airfares to this year’s top destinations. International travel is surging as well, with a 250 percent increase over 2022.