Its one of, if not the, busiest travel weeks of the year. On the eve of Thanksgiving, some travelers looking to visit friends and family are being impacted by severe delays before they even get to the airport.
Roads In and Out of DFW Airport Are Clogged With Traffic
For passengers looking to fly out of Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW) the day before Thanksgiving, trouble began before they could even make it to the terminal. The airport, and American Airlines superhub, is experiencing massive traffic issues on the roadways in and out of the world’s third busiest airport.
Videos posted to social media shows lines of cars attempting to enter the property in what appears to be standstill traffic. One video posted on Twitter/X showed passengers taking matters into their own hands, exiting the vehicle and walking towards the terminal on foot.
Traffic delays have persisted throughout the day with the airport encouraging passengers to leave plenty of time to make it to the terminal. The airport also encouraged travelers to use available light rail options via DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) or TEX Rail. Some passengers reported being stuck in traffic for more than two hours before turning around and abandoning their plans.
My Thoughts
DFW was my home airport for years before moving to Austin so I am no stranger to its infrastructure and layout. While the airport property is absolutely massive (DFW is second only to Denver International Airport in terms of total land area in the United States) one road connects the airport with he rest of the DFW Metroplex.
International Parkway, the road running through the airport, was not designed for the amount of traffic the airport currently sees and it has numerous left exits without dedicated on and off ramps. While this has been a longtime flaw, it has never led to delays like we saw today. I know from previous visits that the road has been under construction which has likely compounded the problems but this seems like another issue entirely.
I drove past the airport around 2:00p local time, I’m in town visiting family, and found the traffic around the airport to be heavy but moving. It appears that, as the day went on, the airport roadway became increasingly unable to handle the traffic, causing many passengers to miss their flights. Hopefully, this was a one off occurrence and passengers traveling to and from DFW are able to get to their destinations without issue.
Have you ever seen anything like this?
Summary
DFW Airport experienced massive delays the day before Thanksgiving as passengers attempted to reach the terminal. Some travelers even went so far as to exit their vehicles and walk to the terminal in an effort to catch their flights. Hopefully, these issues were a one-off and we don’t see continued delays throughout the holiday season.