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Holiday Travel: What To Expect For Atlanta Traffic, Airport, MARTA

December 19th, 2019

AAA projects that holiday travel will be at a record high this year, with more than 104.8 million Americans driving to their destinations.

John Bazemore / AP Photo

It’s the most wonderful time of the year — to be stuck in crowds and traffic.

More Americans are expected to be traveling than ever recorded, according to a AAA press release. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is projecting to have more than 3.7 million passengers departing, arriving or connecting to a different flight from Dec. 20 to Jan. 5.

“Travelers should be getting used to crowded highways and airports, as this marks the eighth straight year of new record-high travel volumes for the year-end holidays,” Paula Twidale, vice president of AAA Travel, said in the release.

More than 104.8 million Americans will be on the roads, from Saturday, Dec. 21, to Wednesday, Jan. 1, according to AAA.

In Atlanta, expect a delay multiplier of 1.3 times, and the worst day to travel to be on Thursday, Dec. 26. Peak congestion hours are between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m.

And the congestion won’t be limited to the highways.

More than 1.2 million passengers are projected to go through TSA’s screenings and to depart from Atlanta from Dec. 20 to Jan. 5, according to data provided by Andrew C. Gobeil, spokesperson for Hartsfield-Jackson.

Representatives from the airport encourage travelers to arrive at the airport terminal at least two hours before takeoff for domestic flights and three hours before for international flights.

If you plan to skip driving or flying altogether, MARTA will still be up and running.

The public transportation system will be on a holiday schedule for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. Each of those days will have the Sunday schedule for rail and bus services, according to MARTA’s website.