Record 103 Million Americans Expected To Travel Through New Year
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A record number of travelers are expected to hit the road, ride the rails or fly the friendly skies this holiday weekend.
CBS 3's Anita Oh reports that over 103 million Americans are expected to travel through the new year.
AAA expects more travelers than ever during the next 11 days, thanks to cheap gasoline and weekend holidays, says spokeswoman Jana Tidwell.
"Here in the Philadelphia five-county region, we are expecting 90 percent of travelers to go by car," Tidwell said.
She says 7 percent, that's 80,000 people, are expected to fly.
In the Philadelphia area along, more than 1.2 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more for the year-end holidays.
"We've seen a rebound in the economy," Tidwell said. "We've seen the job market rebound, the housing market rebound. We've seen low gas prices throughout the year."
Andrew Machover of Long Island, New York, is seeing those rebounds firsthand.
"I drove down here because I booked this flight at the last minute and it was a third of the price to fly from Philadelphia than it is to fly from LaGuardia to Atlanta," Machover said.
Mariah Milosovich, of North Philadelphia, hopes to become one of those travelers on the road, eventually.
"We like, missed our first flight this morning so we're trying to make another one and do all that. But I think once we get all that sorted out, it'll be good," Milosovich said.
There have only been a handful of cancellations so far at Philadelphia International Airport, but most flights are listed on time.
