Advice for Holiday Driving

The region's transportation departments have suspended their highway work for the holidays.

The Virginia Department of Transportation ended its scheduled lane closures today on Interstate 95. They will not resume until 9:30 a.m. Monday. Interstate lane closures will be lifted again between Dec. 31 and Jan. 5.

The Maryland State Highway Administration has no scheduled lane closures today through Sunday, and again Dec. 31 through Jan. 4.

Many of you will be traveling far and may encounter difficult driving conditions, perhaps for the first time this winter. Some things to remember:

Driving on ice is trickier than driving on snow. Even a four-wheel drive doesn't do particularly well. Maintain safe speeds and distances. Road conditions can change very quickly, especially at bridges and overpasses, going from wet to icy to snowy.

Keep a safe distance from snow clearing and salting machines. Give the snow plow drivers plenty of room to do their jobs, and on the highways, avoid passing plows that are working in tandem across the lanes.

Online sources of traffic information:
-- For Virginia, look at www.511virginia.org.
-- For Maryland, look at www.chart.state.md.us
-- For regional information, look at our Trafficpage.
-- This is The Weather Channel's page for forecasts along the Interstates.
-- Here's the I-95 Travelers Alert page listing construction projects from Florida to Maine.
-- The Federal Highway Administration also has a page of Traffic and Road Closure information nawtionwide.