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Heads up! Get ready for busiest Thanksgiving travel since 2005

ATLANTA — This year is expected to be the busiest for Thanksgiving travel since 2005.

More than 55 million Americans are planning to trek 50 miles or farther for Thanksgiving this year, according to AAA's annual travel forecast.

That's a 2.9% uptick from last year and puts this year on track to be the second-busiest travel season since AAA started tracking the volume in 2000, surpassed only by the record-breaking numbers in 2005.

The Georgia Department of Transportation is offering a new program that takes data from previous Thanksgiving weeks to predict traffic down to speed.

"You can actually print out charts for your part of metro Atlanta or you can print out a summary chart for the entire metro area that literally breaks down by day and by geography and by time of day areas that may be congested or areas you should avoid," said Scott Highley of GDOT.

Here's when (and when not) to travel in Atlanta.

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this article.