The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is known for two things, equally mind-numbing: excessive alcohol consumption in a hometown bar, and traffic jams.

If you want to avoid a Tim-Kaine-eating-an-orange-on-I-95 situation on your way to Thanksgiving festivities, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s annual holiday travel predictions recommend staying away from roadways next Wednesday.

According to the agency’s 2022 analysis, the worst times to travel by car will be Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thanksgiving Day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. over Thanksgiving weekend. In D.C., the hotspots will be on certain portions of I-495 traveling counterclockwise, and parts of I-95 north, I-270 north, and I-95 south.

The worst of the worst is expected to come on Sunday, Nov. 27 between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., on I-495 counterclockwise, and I-95 to VA-123.

“Although travel times will peak on Wednesday afternoon nationally, travelers should expect much heavier than normal congestion throughout the holiday weekend,” Bob Pishue, a transportation analyst, said in a AAA release.

The agency suggests traveling early on Wednesday morning, or before 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving day. Waze, the navigation app, suggests traveling on Monday, Nov. 21, to avoid the worst of traffic crunch. According to an analysis of 2021 Waze data, Washington and Arlington were the highest-trafficked cities on Thanksgiving Day last year, with Wednesday and Sunday being the busiest days on local roadways.

Holiday travel is expected to increase slightly this year and clock in as the third busiest Thanksgiving travel event since the agency started collecting data in 2000. In Maryland, AAA expects that more than one million residents will hit the road — less than a one percent increase from last year’s total, despite the fact that gas is about 30 cents more expensive now.

While cars are still the most popular mode of holiday travel nation-wide, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority says residents should still prepare for busy terminals and packed parking lots this season, as passenger levels have crept up over the course of the year. Nationwide, air travel is project to increase by 8% this year, according to AAA.

Locals flying out of Dulles this holiday season will have a new transit option to get them to their gate: the extended Silver Line. The Metro stop is a short (five minutes, we timed it) walk away from the terminal.