At maps.google.com, it's another tab, to the left of Map, Satellite and Hybrid. (Enter your address, city and two-digit state abbreviation to focus the map on your location.)

Google Maps Shows Real-Time Traffic Data at Google Operating System:

To see traffic, switch to the map or hybrid mode and click on the new traffic tab. Google Maps will add a layer that colors the roads in green, yellow, red, or gray. The colors represent how fast the traffic is moving:

* Green: more than 50 miles per hour
* Yellow: 25 - 50 miles per hour
* Red: less than 25 miles per hour
* Gray: no data available

In my neighborhood, it only shows nearby Rt. 95.

Far more useful to me is the state's Dept. of Transportation's RhodeWays program, with cameras overlooking many streets and highways that refresh every 30 seconds. You can pick your camera here from a dropdown list, or see them all in seven screens or filtered by region or camera direction at the RhodeWays Live Traffic Camera Center. Seeing all the cameras in a region could be especially useful when you set out for South County beaches in summer.

(You can also get to the cameras from projo.com/weather. Choose the first link under "Traffic watch." This is my usual route to them.)

Below, the state's realtime camera view of a red area in the map at the top of this post: