An increased number of holiday travelers are expected to take to the roads this weekend, despite gas prices being significantly higher than they have been during previous Fourth of July weekends.
Fuel prices in North Carolina are averaging 16 cents higher than they were last year, and drivers will be paying the highest holiday gas prices they have paid since 2008. But that isn’t discouraging motorists from taking to the roads this weekend. In fact Tom Crosby of Triple-A Carolinas says he expects the highest number of travelers in 13 years.
CROSBY: We expect slightly more than 1 million people to be travelling this weekend more than 50 miles away from home. This is the most people that we’ve had driving since about 2001.
Crosby also says that the July 4th holiday tends to be the deadliest for road travelers in North Carolina, and that it could be even more dangerous this year because it falls on a weekend.
CROSBY: The safety aspect carries a little more weight this year, because you’ve got both a Friday and a Saturday night for celebration, and as a result nobody has to work the following day. So, people tend to celebrate a little more than they should. So just be careful.
Airports are also expected to be busier than normal, but flying is estimated to only account for about ten percent of Independence Day holiday travel.