The best route around traffic.

• Position: What's New?

It seems no matter where you live in this great, big, expansive country of ours, there is one common denominator--traffic, and lots of it. And no wonder. Everywhere you turn, there's construction ... well, at least a bunch of burly guys hanging out on the side of the road drinking coffee and chatting by a string of orange cones. What's a beleaguered motorist to do?

The 81st edition of The Road Atlas ($11.95) from Rand McNally, Skokie, Ill., includes 5,100 construction updates since the 2004 edition (and more than 20,000 since 2001). So, travelers in a hurry to get between Muskegon, Mich., and Milwaukee, Wisc., can skip the five-hour, 285-mile drive around Lake Michigan and take the new 76-mile, 2 1/2-hour ferry ride across the lake. Moreover, 2005 Road Atlas owners won't be surprised when they take rerouted U.S. Highway 33 across the Ohio River and wind up in a different town: Ravenswood, W. Va., not Mason, W. Va., as before.

Besides the can't-be-beat maps, the Atlas provides editorial content to help travelers get the most out of their leisure trips. For instance, there are profiles of 30 recommended dining, shopping, and tourist attractions, along with five new scenic routes designated in Rand McNally's annual Best of the Road awards program. Also be sure to check out "American...