Expect a crowd on the road for Memorial Day weekend

[Robbien]

Hey, we hear you're going on a road trip. Got any room in the back? We'll pop for snacks.

Oh, how did we know? Wasn't that hard to figure out.

First, air traffic is projected to be down by 14 million passengers this summer.

Then, have you noticed how gas prices are up a few dimes lately despite the oil glut? That's the speculators betting that you're about to tank up.

And, of course, the AAA blabbed. They said their survey shows this holiday weekend will see a 1.5 percent traffic increase over last year.

So, it all adds up.

The AAA survey of 2,700 households looks at how many expect to travel 50 miles or more from their homes. That came to 32.4 million, up from 31.9 million last year.

Of those, 83 percent, or 27 million, said they'd go by car. When you look 2008's corresponding number of 26.3 million, the math — including an almost $1.50 per gallon subtraction in fuel prices — tells you more holiday travelers will be on the road pretty soon.

Hitting the highways, AAA President Robert Darbelnet said in the organization's annual statement, "is not up by a lot, but anything that's up compared to last year is pretty good news in this economy."

After Memorial Day, he expects travel to remain flat except maybe for the other summer holidays, July Fourth and Labor Day.

Considering how many folks lost their jobs over the winter months, flat will be welcome to those in the tourism industry.

Still, about 42 percent of Americans plan a leisure trip this summer, according to a recent Associated Press/GfK Roper poll, a pretty good number when you factor the 49 percent found by an AP-Ipsos May poll back in the much better year of 2005.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2009247086_webmemorialtrav21.html



Hard to believe.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. What I hate about Memorial Day week-end is the number of fatalies the news

always announces on Tuesday.

[2Design]

2. flying is too much of hassle with the draconian clueless searches n/t

[GentryDixon]

3. I will speak from experience.

We left Utah on Sunday on our way to North Carolina. We are traveling the northern route, as we plan a Gettysburg trip. This puts us on I-70 heading into Indianapolis.

We are currently in Effingham IL with plans to head out in three days. The traffic has been very light in comparison to other holidays. This is the first time since 2004 the diesel is costing us less than gasoline. Diesel is averaging about $2.15 per gallon.

The camp host told me they are getting local people for weekend getaways. The traffic bears that out.