For Washington and Baltimore, these are the summer days thousands head for the Atlantic Ocean beaches.

Lon Anderson, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said, “We were projecting 600,000 Washingtonians to be on the roads for July Fourth, so this weekend should be somewhat less than that. The end of July is clearly the height of the traveling season, some of the largest crowds of the year will be on the beaches and in the mountains.”

Even on smooth days, congestion, gridlock and fender-benders can plague vacationers on their way.

Anderson and other transportation experts have some tips:

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Leave late and avoid the big rush.

Listen for reports of traffic congestion — Route 66 West to the mountains is always full, I-95 South will be packed and there is always the trouble of the Wilson Bridge where the new bridge lanes may be clogged.

The Annapolis Barrack of the Maryland State Police has already reported eight fender-benders on Route 50 toward the Bay Bridge over the past week, the No. 1 cause of backups and traffic woes for eastbound travelers.

In a three-year accident-history analysis by the Maryland Transportation Authority (Jan. 1, 2002, to Dec. 31, 2004), it was determined that 58 percent of all accidents on the Bay Bridge were rear-end collisions, 70 percent of which occurred on the eastbound span and roadway.

As some beach-bound commuters have already noticed, traffic this year has been running relatively smoothly along the Bay Bridge, mostly due to an increase in E-ZPasses and the completion of an exclusive full one-mile approach lane for pass holders.

“The E-ZPass has played a tremendous role in reducing traffic,” said Lindsay Reilly, a spokeswoman for MTA.

“Since the May 19 weekend, there has been a consistent increase of about 20 percent in E-ZPass use over the last year, even though we have not seen an increase in traffic.”

Recommended travel times for summer

» Thursday — prior to 2 p.m. and after 7 p.m.

» Friday — prior to noon and after 10 p.m.

» Saturday — prior to 7 a.m. and after 5 p.m.

» Sunday — prior to 11 a.m. and after 10 p.m.

mmartin@dcexaminer.com