Driving west out of Baltimore on the day before Thanksgiving

I%26#39;m planning on driving from Columbia, MD to KY on the day before Thanksgiving. I%26#39;ve heard that 70 gets backed up until you make it to Frederick. Is this true? Any suggestions for alternate routes? It doesn%26#39;t look like leaving at an odd time (e.g. in the middle of the night) is going to be an option. Thanks!

Driving west out of Baltimore on the day before Thanksgiving

Unfortunately, the time you leave is pretty much the only variable you can control.

I can%26#39;t say how crowded 70 West will be that day, but the only realistic alternate route would be to take Md. 144 (the old road paralleling 70 between Baltimore and Frederick). Things would have to be REALLY bad on 70 to convince me to do that.

So I%26#39;d try 70, and if it gets really bad, you will have the opportunity at every exit to use 144 instead if you see fit. And if you%26#39;re on 144, you%26#39;ll have the opportunity to scope out the action on 70 at numerous points to hop back on.

If you%26#39;re headed to extreme southeast Kentucky, you could also pick up I-81 south off of I-66 west. But that means heading around Washington%26#39;s Beltway, which won%26#39;t be a day at the beach either the day before Thanksiving.

Driving west out of Baltimore on the day before Thanksgiving

70 W is normally backed up every day from 4:00 pm to around 6:00 pm from the Beltway to past the Marriottsville Road exit. In addition heading north on 29 to the 70 W exits is always very slow during rush hours. As the previous poster suggested, 144 might be an option, but that also can be slow moving.

You may also want to look at using Rt. 32. That will get you past the point of normal weekday congestion (Marriottsville) mentioned by the above poster.

http://tinyurl.com/4pbzxb

In all honesty, I%26#39;ve never tried either of these routes the day before Thanksgiving, maybe somebody out there has some first-hand experience.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I%26#39;ll have a few options then, if I can figure where traffic is bad on that day.