METAIRIE, La. (WGNO) — It’s shaping up to be a record-breaking year for Fourth of July travel.
Domestic travel over the weekend is expected to increase by 2.1 million people, compared to last year.
According to Don Redman with AAA Louisiana, this year’s projection of 50.7 million travelers will surpass the previous record set in 2019.
“When we look at the percentage of travelers who are traveling by airplane, which is about eight percent of all travelers, we haven’t seen those kinds of numbers in nearly 20 years,” Redman said. “So, it’s really a significant number of people who are traveling all modes of the vehicle but particularly flying. Obviously, the car of the vehicle is the preferred mode of transportation.”
Most people will drive to their destinations, and drivers say this is the perfect time to take a trip.
“It’s the middle of summer, and hopefully we can make it the duration of the trip, which will be about a month, hopefully before hurricane season really starts to ramp up, and I won’t have to make a short exit from Las Vegas back to here to prepare,” said Frank Caracci, who was pumping gas ahead of his trip.
Since gas prices are lower than they were a year ago, Redman believes summer travel will remain steady.
“I think that this year, we’re going to see the summer travel trends continue to be on a roll and setting new records, largely again because those gas prices are cheaper,” Redman explained. “It’s just giving families more disposable income versus this time last year.”
If you plan on leaving Friday, make sure to get on the road before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m. to avoid traffic jams. On Saturday, make sure to hit the road before noon.
“Just being stuck in that traffic with car breakdowns, this heat, what have you, we’re trying to give travelers as much information as we can to prepare for the unprepared.”
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