If it's almost Thanksgiving, it means the city is gearing up the influx of visitors to the city for the holidays. The Department of Transportation released its calendar of "Gridlock Alert Days" (PDF) and its "Holiday Traffic Mitigation Plan" (PDF)—above all, the DOT recommends that people take mass transit. Today is the first Gridlock Alert Day, as is Thanksgiving next week; next month, the Gridlock Alert Days are December 2 (Rockefeller tree lighting), 4, 11, 16, 17, 18 and 23.