Record-Breaking Thanksgiving Traffic Causes Gridlock In Los Angeles

As bad as Massachusetts traffic might be, this is a good reminder that it could be infinitely worse.

CNN shared arial footage shot by KABC-TV on Tuesday, revealing that the start of Thanksgiving travel resulted in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Los Angeles highways for miles in both directions.

Southern California is notorious for having the worst traffic not only in the United States, but in the entire world. It’s so bad, in fact, that INRIX reported in 2016 that Los Angeles motorists spend an average of 13 percent of their driving time sitting in traffic.

The U.S. is set for some of the worst holiday traffic since 2005, with 50.9 million Americans traveling at least 50 miles for Thanksgiving, according to AAA. What’s more, roughly 89 percent of those travelers are expected to drive to their destination.

It’s also unsurprising that Los Angeles roadways turned into a ribbon of tail lights as far as the eye can see. In L.A., the worst day for travel of the entire week was expected to be Tuesday, specifically between 3:15 p.m. and 6 p.m., when it took people roughly 2 1/2 times longer to complete their journey.