Driving on a Holiday weekend can be a real pain. The amount of time you spend in the car depends on when you choose to leave. WSDOT has some great graphs to help you plan your commute so you don't sit in miles of back up.

Just go to this link www.wsdot.wa.gov/Congestion/LaborDay/

Have fun!

OLYMPIA – WSDOT has tools available to help drivers who do plan to head out on the road for the last official weekend of summer.

Drivers headed out on Washington ’s highways for Labor Day 2008 can check the WSDOT website http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Congestion/LaborDay/ to find out just how the holiday weekend travel could compare to a typical summer weekend. Traffic analysts looked at typical weekend travel in late August and how many cars were on the road on past Labor Day weekends.

The information now available will help drivers find the best times to travel on US 2, I-90, I-5 at the Canadian Border and I-5 from south of Olympia through Lewis County. These locations typically see an increase in weekend and holiday travel. Labor Day remains a heavy travel day for both I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass and US 2 over Stevens Pass. Both locations show late afternoon peaks on Monday.

Work at most construction sites around the state will move off the highway from noon Friday until Tuesday morning. Drivers should prepare for shifted lanes, roadway detours, and reduced speed zones in places.

On US 2 in Chelan County, a temporary traffic signal is at the junction of US 2/97 (MP 104-105), the Peshastin East Interchange Project www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/US2/97_PeshastinEast_IC/ - (Junction of the Stevens and Blewett Pass Highways). The speed limit through the work zone is reduced to 35 mph and drivers can expect delays at peak travel times.

WSDOT expects heavy traffic Labor Day afternoon and evening on eastbound SR 16 over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge as more drivers than normal will be using the manual toll lanes.

The WSDOT Ferries Division www.wsdot.wa.gov/News/2008/08/Laborday_081908.htm reminds travelers to allow extra time for ferry travel over the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend. The longest backups are expected to occur Friday afternoon and evening, Aug. 29; Sunday afternoon and evening, Aug. 31; and Monday morning, Sept. 1.

Compared to 2007, AAA projects www.aaawa.com/about/press_room/release.asp?@newsroomID=111 a slight decrease in the number of Americans traveling during the Labor Day holiday weekend. Approximately 28.64 million Americans (more than 83% of all holiday travelers) expect to travel by automobile, a 1.1 percent decrease from the 28.97 million people who drove to their holiday destinations last year.