RICHMOND, Va. -- More drivers are expected to be on the roads this weekend compared to any Memorial Day weekend since before the pandemic, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.
“Nationally, we're looking at 42 million traveling for Memorial Day weekend,” Morgan Dean of AAA Mid-Atlantic told CBS 6 News. “When we break it down to Virginia, we're looking at about 1.2 million traveling and about 1 million of those will be hitting the roads to drive. So the busiest weekend that a lot of folks have seen either at the airport or on the roadways in several years.”
Travel experts expect Friday’s evening commute to be the height of travel hours.
AAA suggests drivers going to vacation destinations take their time leaving home until after rush hour in the evening or wait until Saturday morning if possible.
“Saturday and Sunday expected to be really really good driving days,” said Dean.
Gas prices are much lower for the 2023 Memorial Day weekend than they were last year even though they are currently higher than earlier this week.
“We have seen gas prices click up just a little bit here over the past couple of days,” said Dean. “Part of that the nature of when people start to hit the road to travel for warm weather holidays, hired doing it at the pumps, typically pushes prices up.”
Even with the uptick in demand, the price of crude oil is low at $70 per barrel. AAA Mid-Atlantic said the Richmond Metro is averaging $1.12 less per gallon of gas than this day one year ago.
Weekend travelers are advised to drive safe the next few days as law enforcement is expected to ramp up traffic enforcement efforts as well.
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