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It seems perfect — the Fourth of July falls on a Tuesday this year, allowing for a nice long weekend to get away. But it might be a little too perfect: Record-setting numbers of people are predicted to travel in the coming days.
AAA, the auto association, is projecting record-breaking travel volumes for the holiday weekend. The numbers are eye-popping: More than 50 million Americans are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home this weekend.
Most folks will be driving, with 43.2 million people projected to hit the road. Another 4.17 million will likely fly. And more than 3.3 million are predicted to travel by bus, cruise or train.
„A lot of people are going to be traveling, and that’s despite high ticket prices, despite inflation. People still have that desire to get out of town and do something fun,“ AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz told NPR.Expect packed roadways
Friday is expected to be the busiest day on the road, with traffic on Sunday and Monday looking considerably lighter. AAA counts the holiday weekend as stretching from Friday, June 30 to Tuesday, July 4.
Many of the routes that AAA predicts to be most congested are between cities and nearby beaches: New York City to the Jersey Shore; Boston to Hyannis, Mass.; Washington, D.C., to Rehoboth Beach, Del.; Houston to Galveston, Texas; Portland to Cannon Beach, Oregon.
One factor encouraging drivers is that gas prices have come down considerably from this time last year, when the national average was $4.85 a gallon. „This year we’re looking at a national average of about $3.
