If you must hit the road Wednesday, don’t leave at 3 p.m. unless you want to face Denver’s worst traffic expected for the entire Thanksgiving week, according to Google.
And Google should know.
Its source is searches made last Thanksgiving week on Google Maps — which has a billion active users each month — plus the speed of anonymous Android smartphone users driving with their location function enabled.
Thanksgiving traffic on Denver-area roads has steadily increased over the years, according to Google’s count.
In 2013, the Denver region ranked No. 21 for heaviest traffic. Last year, Denver jumped to No. 12, based on how slow traffic moved.
Google said it doesn’t theorize why cities move up or down in the ranking — it’s all based on data, and how details like how slow Android users are moving on the road. But there are always outside factors. Last year, down traffic on the day before Thanksgiving.
Denver’s rising Google rank is supported by travel forecasts by AAA Colorado, which expects the in seven years to take a Thanksgiving trip more than 50 miles from home. About 87 percent of 766,000 Coloradans will travel by car.
“Several things are contributing to the seven-year high. Gas prices nationally and locally are the lowest they have been for Thanksgiving since 2008. Also, the economy is improving with steady wage growth, rising disposable income and a falling unemployment rate,” said Wave Dreher, AAA Colorado’s director of communications. “Thanksgiving tends to be a holiday with strong emotional ties to spending time with family and friends even when people remain cautious about the economy and their finances.”
Based on last year’s traffic congestion, Google says to avoid 3 to 4 p.m. and suggests that Denver drivers travel before noon or after 5 p.m. on Wednesday. On Thanksgiving, the busiest travel time is noon to 2 p.m.
Saturday travel will be nearly as crazy. Google recommends staying an extra night and returning home Sunday. Last year, Saturday travel in the Denver area was 34 percent worse than Sunday.
Sunday, however, is expected to be Denver International Airport’s busiest day and with more than 182,000 passengers expected. DIA recommends , which is the only app that gets data directly from the Denver airport.
Where is everyone going? Google knows that too, at least locally.
On Wednesday last year, people in Denver were shopping, based on searches for shopping centers and furniture stores. On Thanksgiving, people headed to grocery stores and bakeries. And on Friday, the top searches were electronics stores, followed by aquariums and the Natural History Museum.
Denver was also the only city to have “alternative medicine” as a trending Google Map search on Black Friday 2014. Google declined to comment, but last year, Colorado was one of two states that had legalized the recreational sale of marijuana.
Tamara Chuang: tchuang@denverpost.com or visit dpo.st/tamara
Deals for drivers:
• $1 per-day parking at the this weekend, but be out by 4 a.m. or regular rates kick in, via parking app .
• On Thanksgiving day, Verizon customers can get an extra gigabyte of data and access to free movies at Amazon, a $5 iTunes giftcard, free airport Wi-Fi via Boingo and others offers. Details at
