2.17 Million Angelenos Expected To Hit The Road On Memorial Day Weekend
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Road traffic is expected to be just as heavy during Memorial Day weekend even though slightly fewer Southern California residents will be on the road, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.
About 2.53 million residents are expected to take holiday trips this weekend — a 2.1 percent decrease from last year — and of those, 2.17 million are expected to drive to their destinations, the Auto Club said in a statement.
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The number of those projected to travel by air is 217,000 verses 248,000 from 2012.
"Despite the drop in air travel, airports still will be very crowded this holiday weekend and planes will be full as airlines continue to consolidate flights to reduce their costs," said Filomena Andre, the Auto Club's vice president for travel. "We advise passengers to plan an extra hour into their travel time to get to the airport and through longer security lines due to the holiday."
Auto Club travel agents surveyed Southland residents and discovered San Diego, Las Vegas, San Francisco, the Central Coast and the Grand Canyon are the top Memorial Day destinations.
Gas prices have dropped slightly and the state average is $4.05 a gallon for regular — 1.1 cents lower than last week, according to the Auto Club's Weekend Gas Watch.
"After a two-week increase of about 20 cents, drivers have seen prices at many stations drop back below $4 a gallon for regular unleaded in the past week," Auto Club spokesperson Jeffrey Spring said. "About 2.5 million people are expected to drive to their Memorial Day getaways this weekend, and they'll be paying about $4 less for a 15-gallon fill-up than they did prior to last year's holiday."
Statewide, about 86 percent of the expected 4.08 million travelers are projected to travel by car.
