Thanksgiving Day 2008 News Release

What do the colors mean for drivers?

Traffic analysts looked at how many cars used the Tacoma Narrows Bridge manual toll lanes on the Sunday of Thanksgiving 2006 and 2007 weekend. The vertical axis shows the percentage of cars are projected to use the manual toll lanes for each hour (shown on the horizontal axis). As the graphs turn from green to yellow, drivers can expect some congestion. At the hours shown as red, traffic analysts predict travel will reach capacity for that stretch of roadway. Once a roadway reaches capacity, any small incident can cause significant backups.

What about the black line?

The black line running from left to right shows the typical Sunday manual toll lanes usage. This gives drivers more information on how the Sunday of the Thanksgiving 2008 holiday may relate to a typical Sunday.

Check the graphs below to find the best times to travel on SR 16 Tacoma Narrows Bridge.