Nobody likes to sit in traffic. But sometimes construction, an accident, or plain old bottlenecking congestion can turn your commute into a soul-crushing nightmare. In the days before we all walked around with palm-sized computers in our pockets, to avoid traffic jams we had to find out via some form of newscast. And often by the time we heard the news, we were already stuck in traffic. But with the availability of real-time navigation and traffic smartphone apps, avoiding those traffic jams has become considerably easier.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard you try, you probably won’t be able to avoid every traffic jam, but thanks to real-time traffic apps, you can now avoid many of them.

Here are four of the best apps you can download today to help you avoid traffic.

1. Google Maps – Google Maps is a free and easy-to-use app that performs a number of functions including navigation, allowing you to choose from various routes, and even “exploring nearby” places. Google Maps will also tell you in real time if a particular route likely to be backed up with traffic.
2. Waze – Waze is another free app that does one of the best jobs at providing the most up-to-date traffic information available. A unique feature of this app is that it lets you send an ETA to a contact of your choosing without having to press a button. If you would like to contribute to the cause and help others avoid traffic, you can also report incidents through Waze.
3. CP24 Traffic Alert – This free app seems to be most useful in the Toronto area. With CP24, you can receive audio notices when there is an accident or traffic congestion. This can help you to avoid the area so that you don’t have to spend your free time sitting in traffic. The main drawback of this app is that while you may not be overwhelmed with traffic, you’ll still be overwhelmed with advertising. But hey – the app is free, so why not give it a try?!
4. Navmii – While not as popular as Google Maps, Navmii is another free app that offers many of the same features along with voice-guided navigation, destination searches and live traffic updates. With this app, you can tap into other popular sites/apps including TripAdvisor and Foursquare.

Avoiding traffic jams whenever possible can help to give you a less stressful commute. So why not check out some of these free apps and see which one works best for you.