Thanksgiving travel: WSDOT releases best, worst times for driving

Travelers should expect heavy traffic volumes when hitting the roads this Thanksgiving.

On Monday, the Washington State Department of Transportation released charts showing when Interstate 90 North Bend to Cle Elum is expected to be the most congested and to help plan travel.

This year, more people could be gathering in person for Thanksgiving.

People traveling to Seattle for the Apple Cup on Friday should prepare for possible winter weather conditions over the passes.

Traffic analysts with WSDOT looked at traffic volumes over the past Thanksgiving weekends. Based on the information, they projected how many cars will be traveling each hour over the holiday weekend.

In the charts, the graphs turn green to yellow when drivers can expect some congestion. Red predicts when travel could reach roadway capacity, and a small incident can cause backups. The black line indicates typical traffic.