Next time I will take the train.

September 23, 2011 10:06 AM

DC to Pittsburgh by bus on Thanksgiving weekend? Will it be a traffic nightmare?

I am new to DC, and am planning to visit relatives in Pittsburgh over the Thanksgiving holiday. I have already purchased my tickets - traveling Wednesday and returning Sunday, along with half of the Eastern seaboard, I imagine. A co-worker advised me to find an alternate time to travel, if I possibly could, since the Turnpike is likely to be an unholy mess.

I would like a second opinion, before I potentially alter my plans and spend more money. How much of a delay am I looking at? I was expecting to be delayed maybe an hour to two hours. Should I expect more? Should I change my travel time?

posted by backwards compatible to travel & transportation around Pittsburgh, PA (2 answers total)

If you leave first thing Wednesday morning (6am), you should be okay. Thanksgiving week, Tuesday has become the new day before Thanksgiving, and a ton of people travel either Tuesday night or early afternoon Wednesday.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:12 AM on September 23, 2011

The DC to PGH trip, generally, is 4 hours. (2 hrs DC to Breezewood, 2 hrs Breezewood to PGH)

One Thanksgiving, we stayed until late Sunday night (8pm) before driving back from PGH. We spent 6 hours on the PA turnpike between PGH and Breezewood.

So for us, a 4 hour delay.

You can look at 66 to 81, or 68/522 as alternate routes, but I can't speak of their T-Giving traffic - we stopped traveling on holidays after the above fiasco.
posted by k5.user at 10:25 AM on September 23, 2011