MassDOT Suspending Construction Operations Statewide Until Monday Night For Thanksgiving Holiday

BOSTON (CBS) -- Here's something holiday travelers have to be thankful for: No construction-related traffic delays on Massachusetts roads this Thanksgiving.

MassDOT announced it is "suspending construction operations statewide" from Tuesday morning through 9 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 29.

The HOV lane on I-93 between Boston and Quincy will extend its hours to be open from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday and from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday. It will be closed on Thursday and Friday.

AAA says drivers should prepare for roads "to be noticeably more crowded" than last year, when Thanksgiving gatherings were discouraged due to COVID.

"These days traffic is sort of back to the bad normal that it used to be," said driver Bill White. "We'll just deal with it."

About 1.1 million people in Massachusetts are expected to travel by car, up 9% from last year.

"We're expecting it to be a big one, if you look at all the predictions out there, we're looking at this to be probably the heaviest travel day since pre-pandemic times," said MassDOT Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver. "It used to be one heavy day of travel for Thanksgiving but it's really become the whole week."

For anyone driving to the airport, Logan is expecting nearly 900,000 passengers this week as Thanksgiving air travel reaches pre-pandemic levels.

MassDOT is encouraging travelers to use public transportation when possible.