Day Before Holiday, Travelers Are Fed Up With Traffic

The traffic was so diabolical that it broke Howard Winfield's track record at work. Normally it takes him less than hour to drive from Baltimore to his job in the District. He leaves at 6 a.m. and is always the first to arrive at work. Not yesterday.

"It took me an hour to pass one exit," he said, shaking his head. "This is crazy."

At a gas station on Powder Mill Road, Anton Davila and Christina Colby, both 26, were the latest casualties of a morning that defied the spirit of this holiday weekend.

They had left New Britain, Conn., about 1 a.m. yesterday, and were on their way to Florida for Thanksgiving to visit Colby's brother. Then they hit the traffic. Then their Range Rover overheated.

"It's been a nightmare," Davila said at the gas station. "Now we're waiting for a tow truck."

Their other worry sat inside their trunk: pies and cookies to share with their relatives this weekend.

"I don't know how long it's going to keep," Colby said. "When we get there, if we ever do, we'll let everyone else try the pie first and then we'll take a piece."

Staff writer William Wan contributed to this report.