How to Ask Alexa for Traffic Information to ANYWHERE

Since the release of the Amazon Echo, Alexa could always give you traffic details from your house to one other point.  Previously, you had to set that point in your Alexa app and ask “Alexa, what’s the traffic?”  Alexa could then give you a traffic update between your home and that fixed point.

If you are the type that enjoys annoying tasks, you could always go into the app, change the one point to your new destination, and then ask Alexa for the traffic.  This was always a tedious feature and basically only worked if you set your office or some other place you traveled to daily as the destination and then left it that way forever.

Both Google Home and Harmon Invoke (Cortana) have long been able to give you traffic updates from your location to any point.  Presumably because they are Google and Microsoft and provide traffic data on Google and Bing.  This is a feature that has been lacking on the Echo (and the main reason I had been using my Invoke).

Recently, Amazon quietly rolled out the ability to ask Alexa for traffic details to any point of interest.  You simply have to ask “Alexa, what’s the traffic to _________?”  You don’t even have to be specific about the location.  This morning I asked for the traffic to the nearest Hyundai dealership.  Alexa dutifully reported the location of the nearest dealership, the amount of time it will take to get there, and the best route to take from my house to the dealership.