July 4 Traffic Crush In MA: AAA, MassDOT Warn Of High Volumes

MASSACHUSETTS — With a potentially record-breaking travel year for the July 4 weekend in sight, MassDOT is offering tips for local drivers to avoid congestion in Massachusetts.

According to AAA, nearly 51 million Americans will travel 50 or more miles over the Independence Day weekend — over 2 million more people traveling than in 2022.

“We’ve never projected travel numbers this high for Independence Day weekend,” Senior Vice President of AAA Travel Paula Twidale said this week. “What this tells us is that despite inventory being limited and some prices 50% higher, consumers are not cutting back on travel this summer. Many of them heeded our advice and booked early, another sign of strong travel demand.”

A majority of those trips — about 43 million nationwide — will be by car, according to the AAA projection. MassDOT is asking drivers to pack patience, and use the agency's tools, like real-time traffic maps before heading out.

According to AAA's forecast, the worst congestion will occur between Boston and Hyannis along Route 3 on Friday morning, with trips taking 63 percent longer than usual.

"The Fourth of July holiday is always a time where we see increased travel around the state, so we ask all roadway users to be courteous, obey the rules of the road, and take it slow so everyone can enjoy the holiday safely," MassDOT Administrator Jonathan Gulliver said in a news release.

MassDOT is preparing for the weekend by canceling all non-emergency road work between Friday and July 5 at 5 a.m. The I-93 Boston-Quincy HOV lane will open early at 2:00 p.m. Thursday and 1 p.m. on Friday.

Apart from vacation travel, thousands of people will travel to downtown Boston on July 4 for the Boston Pops concert and fireworks.

MBTA service, including buses and commuter rail trains, will be free after 9:30 p.m. Tuesday to help with the exodus of revelers. The MBTA will have the following schedules in place over the holiday:

• Subways will run on a modified Saturday schedule until 3 p.m. on July 4. After that, the subway will run on a weekday schedule.
• All bus, Silver Line and The RIDE services will operate on a Sunday schedule on July 4.
• Commuter Rail will operate on a weekend schedule on July 4. All last trains at North Station and South Station will be held for 30 minutes after the fireworks conclude. Passengers will also be able to board trains at Back Bay Station.
• Ferries will operate on the following service schedules on July 4: Hingham/Hull/Logan to Boston Ferry, Saturday schedule. The Charlestown Ferry and East Boston ferries will run on weekend schedules. The Lynn ferry won't run.