Thanksgiving Traffic

Thanksgiving traffic: The day and time you head out of Houston really does make a difference

This graphic from Google Maps just about says it all when it comes to holiday traffic.

Courtesy graphic

If you're headed out of Houston for Thanksgiving, it's better to start early or wait 'til late.

That's the word from Google Maps, which analyzed data on traffic conditions and the total number of cars on the road at a given time in 21 cities during Thanksgiving week.

Google found that the worst time for traffic in Houston falls between 1 and 5 p.m. on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. So leave before noon or after 6 p.m. Wednesday to beat the traffic. The worst time for traffic across all of Thanksgiving week in Houston is 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Google says.

Or better yet, leave on Thanksgiving morning. Traffic on Turkey Day is a breeze. In Houston, it's the least busy day of the entire Thanksgiving entire week. To make travel easier on even the lightest traffic day, stay off the road between 11 am and noon Thanksgiving Day.

Surprisingly returning home on Sunday is better than Saturday from a traffic perspective. Traffic patterns show that, in Houston, traffic is about 22 worse on Saturday than on Sunday. And Black Friday is the least trafficked day — unless you're near a mall. (Saturday and Tuesday are the second and third heaviest traffic days around the Bayou City on Thanksgiving week, according to Google.)

Houston ranks No. 8 for worst traffic out of the U.S. cities Google looked at during Thanksgiving week.

Los Angeles, no surprise, is No. 1. Dallas in No. 5 and Austin is No. 9.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”