Cape Cod traffic: See Route 6 by exit 82 Sunday morning after July 4
Traffic started to build early Sunday morning after the long 2025 July 4 holiday weekend.
Looking to get off-Cape after the Fourth of July weekend?
Leaving Cape Cod after a holiday weekend usually means sitting in some degree of traffic. (We have a few basics for avoiding the worst of it below.)
If you’re planning on leaving Sunday, keep this traffic tracker handy. We’ll watch the roads, let you know about back-ups at the bridges and along Route 6, and put out an alert if any alternate routes show promise.
As of just after 9 p.m., the fastest way off Cape Cod still includes a 10-mile slowdown, according to Google Maps. If you stay on Route 6, it takes 53 minutes to drive through that stretch alone. A detour at exit 61 uses Route 6A in Sandwich before rejoining the line of cars at the bridge and takes a little less time, at 46 minutes.
The total drive time from Provincetown to just over the Sagamore Bridge is 1 hour and 42 minutes, according to Google Maps.
Falmouth to the Bourne Bridge is a 32-minute drive as of 9:09 p.m.
At a little after 6 p.m., the trip from Provincetown to just across the Sagamore Bridge takes an hour and 33 minutes, and the traffic slowdown leading to the Sagamore Bridge has grown again, to about 10 miles. It now takes 44 minutes to drive through the back-up if you stay on Route 6 and 44 if you take exit 61 through East Sandwich.
The trip from Falmouth to the Bourne Bridge improved to 29 minutes.
The traffic heading off-Cape via the Sagamore Bridge is backed up about 8 miles, significantly better than the 14-mile back-up at noon. That delay takes about 40 minutes to drive through, according to Google Maps.
As of 4:30 p.m., it takes a little less than an hour and a half to drive from Provincetown to just over the Sagamore Bridge.
Falmouth to the Bourne Bridge is a 36-minute drive.
As of 3:30 p.m., it takes an hour and 43 minutes to drive from Provincetown to just over the Sagamore Bridge using Route 6, according to Google Maps. Though the ride has dipped a minute or two below two hours today, that’s the first significant drop since at least 9:30 a.m.
There are no obvious traffic jams until West Barnstable. There is about a 9-mile back-up before the Sagamore Bridge.
It now takes about 45 minutes to drive from Falmouth to the Bourne Bridge.
The two-hour drive off-Cape from Provincetown to just over the Sagamore Bridge has remained largely the same compared to an hour ago, according to Google Maps. Route 6 still shows about a 13-mile back-up before the Sagamore Bridge. That back-up takes a little less than half an hour to traverse, no matter which alternate route you choose.
It now takes over an hour to drive from Falmouth to the Bourne Bridge, as of 1 p.m.
The drive from Provincetown to just over the Sagamore Bridge using Route 6 just dipped under two hours, according to Google Maps. The slowdowns through Yarmouth have disappeared, shaving off about 15 minutes from the total ride. The delay in Harwich that stretched 3 miles at one point this morning is down to .3-mile and takes only a minute to cross, according to Google Maps.
Traffic is backed up 14 miles on Route 6 to the Sagamore Bridge as of noon. Google mapped an alternate route that gets off Route 6 at exit 68 to wind through Main Street in West Barnstable, gets back on Route 6 at exit 65 before getting off again at exit 61 to use Service Road and back on Route 6 at exit 59. That only takes six minutes off the drive.
Taking the Quaker Meeting House Road route in Sandwich (exit 61 off Route 6, but on the other side), actually takes longer right now, according to Google Maps.
It now takes 55 minutes to get from Sandwich to the other side of the canal via the Bourne Bridge.
The drive off-Cape, from Provincetown to just over the Sagamore Bridge, takes 2 hours and 17 minutes, as of 10:30 a.m., according to Google Maps.
A 13-mile back-up leading to the Sagamore Bridge takes an hour and 18 minutes alone to chug through. Google Maps says taking exit 61 in Sandwich will shave six minutes off your drive.
The formerly 21-minute drive from Falmouth to over the Bourne Bridge now takes 48 minutes.
It now takes over two hours to drive from Provincetown to just over the Sagamore Bridge, nearly double the drive time at 7 a.m.
The Yarmouth delays on Route 6 of an hour ago have largely coalesced into one big slowdown, according to Google Maps, with a short break before picking up again in Barnstable. Bridge traffic is now backed up over 8 miles before the Sagamore Bridge. The back-up in Harwich has eased slightly, down to two miles from this morning’s 3-mile slowdown.
The route from Falmouth to across the Bourne Bridge still remains relatively clear at a 21-minute drive time.
As of 8:30 a.m., it takes one hour and 50 minutes to drive from Provincetown to over the Sagamore Bridge, according to Google Maps.
On Route 6, there is a 3-mile backup in Harwich from right before exit 85 to some way past exit 82, some smaller slowdowns in Yarmouth and a 2-mile traffic jam in Hyannis.
Traffic over the Sagamore Bridge starts getting clogged up about 12 miles out on Route 6, but the solid backup starts a little over 4 miles out, before exit 59.
Google says staying on Route 6 is still the fastest way off Cape.
As of 7 a.m., it takes one hour and 10 minutes to get from Provincetown to just over the Sagamore Bridge, according to Google Maps. There do not appear to be any slowdowns yet.
Tips for beating Cape Cod traffic on popular travel days
Drivers come to a stop waiting their turn at the Bourne Rotary
Rain or shine it’s traffic time as morning commuters come to a stop at the base of the Bourne Bridge before navigating the redesigned Bourne Rotary.
Traffic updates will start rolling in around 7 a.m. Sunday. In the meantime, here’s what we know about avoiding traffic headed off-Cape after a holiday weekend.
The basics of skipping the worst of traffic on or off Cape Cod is simple – travel before or after you want to. For Fourth of July weekend, that means cutting your vacation short by a few hours or driving late at night.
The Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce recommends leaving before 1 p.m. or after 9 p.m. on Sundays (or Monday holidays).
You can also check traffic cameras at Mass511.
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