As is now customary, Georgia's Department of Transportation will suspend lane closures for theChristmas and New Year's Day holidays.
Georgia interstates and state routes lane closures will be suspended during the Christmas weekend beginning Thursday, December 22 at 5:00am until Monday, December 26 at 5:00am.
For New Year's weekend, the suspension of lane closures will be in effect Saturday, December 31 2022 at 5:00am until Monday, January 2, 2023 at 5:00am.
Even though construction-related lane closures will be suspended, GDOT reminds drivers to be careful, since crews may still be at work near highways. Certain safety concerns may require some long-term lane closures to remain in place. Incident management, emergency or maintenance-related lane closures could become necessary at any time on any route.
GDOT has also predicted the best (and worst) times for your holiday travel, based on historical travel data from Christmas and New Year’s 2019 through 2021.
Metro Atlanta Interstates - Christmas: December 21 - December 27
- Lighter than usual traffic is predicted on Friday, December 23 through Tuesday, December 27.
- Moderate-to-heavy traffic is expected on the afternoons of Wednesday, December 21 and Thursday, December 22.
- Metro Atlanta Surface Streets:
- Heavy traffic is predicted on Thursday, December 22 through Friday, December 23.
- Lower traffic volumes are expected from Christmas Eve to Monday, December 26.
- Slight increase in travel times is predicted on Tuesday, December 27
Metro Atlanta Interstates - New Year's: December 28, 2022 - January 3, 2023
- Moderate-to-heavy traffic is predicted on Wednesday, December 28 and Thursday, December 29.
- Lighter than usual traffic is expected on Friday, December 30, 2022 through Monday January 2, 2023.
- An increase in congestion is expected on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.
Historical Christmas and New Year’s travel data for major interstates outside of the metro Atlanta area have shown the following trends:
- I-20 eastbound congestion entering metro Atlanta; I-20 westbound congestion exiting the city towards Alabama.
- I-75 is predicted to have heavy congestion southbound and northbound coming out of Atlanta in Stockbridge.
- I-85 congestion near the South Carolina and Alabama borders
- I-24 eastbound congestion in Northwest Georgia (near Chattanooga
- I-16 westbound congestion exiting Savannah and I-16 eastbound congestion entering Savannah
