Thanksgiving Traffic Tips

How to avoid Thanksgiving traffic in Fort Worth: The worst times to hit the road

These helpful tips will help you avoid traffic during the holidays.

Courtesy photo

Thanksgiving means plenty of turkey, pies, good times — and traffic. And according to Google, Dallas-Fort Worth is the fifth most congested metro area during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Luckily, the tech giant has shared some helpful tips on how to avoid traffic during this holiday week by looking at the number of cars on the road and analyzing Google Maps search terms from Thanksgiving 2014. Here are the top tips for traveling with ease:

No matter what your plans are for the holiday, stay off the roads on Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday at 3 pm is the absolute worst time for traffic all week, but you should consider avoiding streets from 2-5 pm.

Since Wednesday is the worst day for traffic, hitting the road on Tuesday is a good bet for avoiding traffic. If Wednesday is your only option, Google suggests leaving before 1 pm or after 6 pm.

Thanksgiving Day has the lightest traffic of the week, with the heaviest congestion expected between 11 am and 1 pm.

Schedule your return trip for Sunday. Avoid traveling on Saturday, as traffic on DFW roadways is 22 percent worse then than Sunday. Black Friday traffic in Dallas-Fort Worth is surprisingly lighter than traffic on Tuesday and Saturday, so coming home the day after Thanksgiving could save you some time — and sanity.

For more Thanksgiving travel tips, check out this blog post from Google.

transportation holidays trends reports

fly high, eagles

Fort Worth neighbor booms as 6th fastest-growing U.S. college town, report says

Photo courtesy of Discover Denton

Denton ranked No. 6 nationally.

Fort Worth might be one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S., but there's one North Texas city that's outdoing it in a different category of population growth. A new study by university scholarship website BrokeScholar has deemed Denton the No. 6 fastest-growing college town in the country.

Denton's population in 2000 was 84,412; in 2023 the population has nearly doubled to 160,564. For scale, U.S. News and World Report says the University of North Texas alone had an undergraduate enrollment of 32,603 in the fall of 2021. Texas Woman's University's fall 2021 enrollment was 10,283 students.

It's not just a university or its enrollment that attracts newcomers, the study says, but the "cultural oasis" that the college towns maintain.

"These collegiate strongholds benefit from an influx of new residents eager to enjoy a good football game and an existing mix of music, culture, and young energy," the report's author wrote.

Denton is a hub for cultural growth as a natural attraction for local Texas bands, a fun arts scene, and a host of outdoor recreational activities like the weekly Denton Community Market.

BrokeScholar estimates the city's population to expand to over 195,000 people by 2030, and about 342,000 people by 2050.

Richardson came in at No. 47 for the fastest-growing college towns, with a 28 percent growth rate from 2000 to 2023, putting the city's current population at 117,528 residents.

Also in the top 10 is San Marcos, in between Austin and San Antonio, ranking No. 4 with an overall population of 70,372 residents. College Station earned No. 8 with an overall population of 123,238 in 2023, with an estimate growth of 19 percent to 147,126 residents by 2030.

The top 10 fastest-growing college towns in the U.S. are:

No. 1 – Bozeman, Montana
No. 2 – Oxford, Mississippi
No. 3 – Cedar City, Utah
No. 4 – San Marcos, Texas
No. 5 – Auburn, Alabama
No. 6 – Denton, Texas
No. 7 – Cullowhee, North Carolina
No. 8 – College Station, Texas
No. 9 – Fayetteville, Arkansas
No. 10 – Raleigh, North Carolina

BrokeScholar pulled data from the U.S. Census Bureau between 2000 and 2023 to determine annual growth rates and make population projections for 2030.

The full report and its methodology can be found on brokescholar.com.

BrokeScholar Study Fastest-Growing College Town colleges reports texas universities denton