Here are the best times to hit the road for Thanksgiving travel on I-90

Leave early, go slow and “pack your patience.”

That’s the advice WSDOT offers people planning their holiday travels this week, one of the busiest travel periods as thousands pack the roads for Thanksgiving on Thursday.

Those looking to travel west from Spokane should plan their travel around the most congested days and times, department spokesperson Tina Werner said.

The busiest section on I-90 is the 50-mile stretch from Cle Elum to North Bend.

The department uses the historic averages of cars per hour from the last three to five years to draw graphs indicating when the most congested periods are on this corridor.

On Wednesday, the peak number of cars will be on this section from noon to 4 p.m., when roadways will be at their peak capacity, and Werner expects “significant backups and delays.”

During this time, the department expects over 2,000 cars per hour to be on this stretch, double the average peak of 1,000 cars per hour during that period on a standard Wednesday.

“That looks like stop-and-go, bumper-to-bumper traffic,” Werner said. “It is the most heavily congested time to get down to North Bend from Cle Elum.”

The three hours bookending that time frame – 9 a.m. to noon and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. – will be less congested, but still around twice as busy as a typical Wednesday.

The best time to hit this stretch on Wednesday is earlier in the morning or later at night. From 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. to midnight, the department expects light traffic at or slightly above typical levels for a nonholiday Wednesday.

“That’s why we encourage people to go early in the morning or late at night,” Werner said.

Thursday, westbound travelers should expect standard nonholiday traffic for much of the day, with much less from the hours starting at 2 p.m., though 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. will see moderate to heavy traffic peaking at around 1,500 cars per hour, above the average 1,000 on a nonholiday Thursday.

Werner added that during the most congested periods, WSDOT responds to more incidents on roadways, which can contribute more to traffic delays.

“When people get frustrated or travel too fast or maybe get angry at being in traffic, sometimes we do see erratic behavior,” Werner said.

Returning to the east side after Thanksgiving, the busiest day from North Bend to Cle Elum will be Sunday, with peak stop-and-go traffic conditions from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., topping out at over 2,500 cars per hour when the average is around 1,500.

The fewest cars will be on roads early mornings and late nights; hours from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday will have around half as many cars on the road compared to typical rush hour traffic.

Travelers should brace for slowdowns if driving during the peak periods, and pack with them extra water, snacks, a phone charger and any other emergency gear, said WSDOT East Spokesperson Ryan Overton.

Weather in the mountain passes along the Cascades, Snoqualmie and Stevens passes should offer favorable conditions for travelers. After a week of storms and mountain snow, the National Weather Service doesn’t forecast much precipitation after Wednesday and into the weekend.

“We’re kind of getting into more of a drier pattern into Wednesday morning,” meteorologist Joey Clevenger said.

Other than some light snow Tuesday night that could accumulate up to an inch and a half, it could sprinkle over mountain passes this weekend.

“There may be a little shower activity, but less than an inch accumulation pretty much into Monday,” Clevenger said.

For travelers heading east, the weather service said the Thanksgiving weather forecast is mostly dry weather on Wednesday and Thursday for northwest Montana, including Missoula.

There could be light snow on the mountain passes, but the dry weather is expected to persist through the weekend.