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What to know when driving Valley roads this Thanksgiving week

AAA says a majority of Americans traveling for Thanksgiving are doing so by driving
Phoenix traffic roads KNXV
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Get ready for holiday gridlock. AAA estimates that 70 million Americans will travel by car for Thanksgiving.

“The busiest days for Thanksgiving week are going to be Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon," Julian Paredes with AAA said. "If you have to travel those days, get started in the morning.”

To watch out for issues, the Arizona Department of Transportation monitors Arizona’s busiest roads 24-7 in their 'Traffic Operations Center.'

For the first time this holiday season, they will be getting updates from Mexico on the Federal Highway as drivers head down to Rocky Point.

“If there’s any incidents on that highway, they’ll call that information in here to the traffic operations center, and we’ll put that information into our AZ511 system," Doug Pacey with ADOT said.

Updates for Highway 8 will begin on Wednesday and continue through Sunday, you can see the live map with current road updates here.

At the state capitol, the Governor's Office for Highway Safety has a warning for anyone planning on drinking this week.

While you may have time off, hundreds of members of law enforcement are staffing dozens of DUI task forces across the Valley.

“We will have 15 DUI task forces in the East Valley, and 11 in the West Valley,” Jesse Torrez said.

The task forces will run through the end of the year.

In 2023, over 1,500 drivers were arrested for DUIs during the holiday season on Arizona roads.

“There’s no excuse. There’s plenty of resources to not get on our roadways when you’re impaired," Wayde Webb with ADOT said.

Click here for the latest traffic information as you plan to travel this week.