Saturday is one of the busiest days for holiday travel, AAA says
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- AAA projects more than 115 million Americans will be traveling 50 miles or more between Sat., Dec. 23, 2023 and Mon., Jan. 1, 2024. It's a more than 2% increase from last year and the second-most since the agency started tracking in 2000. Many of them are coming through Pennsylvania, with the majority hitting the roads.
Saturday and Thursday are expected to be the busiest days on the roads.
Barbara Johnston of Bradenton, Florida, made a quick stop at the rest area off I-79 in Bridgeville early Saturday morning. She's on a journey this Christmas.
"It's been quite a drive," Barbara said. "We've always just had everything at home."
She's used to playing host in the Sunshine State and her family coming to her. This time around, she's going to her youngest daughter's home in Durham, North Carolina. However, to add to her trip, she took a detour in Pittsburgh, to help her other daughter, Megan, move after graduating with a master's at Carnegie Mellon.
"The fact that she drove up, I'm really, really grateful to her, because I would have never been able to fit everything," Megan said.
They're just two of the 13 million people AAA says are expected to travel this holiday in the mid-Atlantic region, which includes Pennsylvania. Nearly 12 million of them will hit the roadways, up 2% from last year.
What's the strategy to making it through the drive?
"I put my music on and I sing an entire concert in my car," Megan said.
Christian Fallecker was traveling home from the Pittsburgh area to Charleston, West Virginia, joined by his friends.
"Just leaving early, you know, once it hits 9, 10 a.m., everyone's going to be out and about," Fallecker said. "We set the alarm for 5 a.m. and we're like, 'we're getting out of here.'"
He may say gas is expensive, but prices are lower than all of 2022, with the average in western Pennsylvania at $3.46.
"(My West Virginia relatives) complain that gas is less than $3 there, and I'm like, 'you have no idea,'" Fallecker said.
Even so, the costs and the length of the drive don't matter.
Donna Barton got picked up in Greenville, Pennsylvania, by her son from the Cleveland area, for a trip to North Carolina.
"It is the holiday for us I think to be all together because we live far apart," Barton said.
What's most important is getting the chance to make memories with loved ones.
"To be with family is worth everything," Barbara said.
If you haven't left just yet, AAA says you should only have minimal traffic on the roads Saturday night through all day Monday. The rest of the week your best bet is anytime before noon.