July 4th 2026: Cape Cod Traffic Recap

The biggest weekend of the Cape year, with the 4th falling on a Saturday. These are measured drive times from Boston to the Sagamore Bridge across the holiday weekend — what the road actually did, reading by reading.

130 measured Boston → Sagamore Bridge readings across the window. The single worst hour was Thursday, July 2 around 2 PM — averaging 2h 19m, about 136% over a clear run. Free-flow baseline for the route: 59 min.

Heading down

Thursday, July 2 · heading down

Worst around 2 PM (avg 2h 19m, 136% over a clear run); calmest around 7 PM (avg 1h 16m).

Hour	Avg	Peak reading	Readings
1 PM	2h 14m	2h 17m	6
2 PM	2h 19m	2h 19m	2
3 PM	2h 10m	2h 12m	4
4 PM	1h 58m	2h 8m	4
5 PM	1h 46m	1h 51m	4
6 PM	1h 21m	1h 31m	4
7 PM	1h 16m	1h 20m	4
8 PM	1h 17m	1h 19m	2
9 PM	1h 17m	1h 19m	2

Friday, July 3 · heading down

Worst around 11 AM (avg 2h 10m, 120% over a clear run); calmest around 6 PM (avg 56 min).

Hour	Avg	Peak reading	Readings
10 AM	2h 5m	2h 6m	2
11 AM	2h 10m	2h 14m	2
12 PM	2h 5m	2h 6m	2
1 PM	1h 32m	1h 51m	4
2 PM	1h 9m	1h 18m	4
3 PM	1h 1m	1h 1m	4
4 PM	1h	1h 1m	4
5 PM	58 min	58 min	4
6 PM	56 min	56 min	4
7 PM	56 min	56 min	4
8 PM	56 min	57 min	2
9 PM	57 min	57 min	2

Saturday, July 4 · heading down

Worst around 11 AM (avg 1h 4m); calmest around 6 AM (avg 53 min).

Hour	Avg	Peak reading	Readings
6 AM	53 min	53 min	2
7 AM	54 min	55 min	2
8 AM	57 min	58 min	4
9 AM	1h	1h 1m	4
10 AM	1h 2m	1h 2m	4
11 AM	1h 4m	1h 5m	4
12 PM	1h 2m	1h 2m	2
1 PM	1h	1h 1m	2
2 PM	58 min	58 min	2

Heading home

Sunday, July 5 · heading home

Worst around 11 AM (avg 1h 42m, 73% over a clear run); calmest around 7 PM (avg 1h 13m).

Hour	Avg	Peak reading	Readings
11 AM	1h 42m	1h 46m	2
12 PM	1h 37m	1h 38m	2
1 PM	1h 40m	1h 42m	4
2 PM	1h 33m	1h 39m	4
3 PM	1h 31m	1h 33m	4
4 PM	1h 27m	1h 29m	4
5 PM	1h 21m	1h 25m	4
6 PM	1h 16m	1h 18m	4
7 PM	1h 13m	1h 14m	2
8 PM	1h 17m	1h 20m	2
9 PM	1h 17m	1h 18m	2

Methodology

Drive times were collected every 15 minutes during travel windows from the Google Routes API (Boston → Sagamore Bridge), with readings more than 3× the free-flow time excluded as outliers. Hours shown have at least one reading; peaks and calm windows require at least two. Averages are simple means of the readings in that hour on that day — this page reports one finished window, not a typical pattern. For typicals, see the full statistics page.