Thousands Of Marylanders Expected To Travel During Memorial Day Weekend
BALTIMORE (WJZ)—Leave early, stay late, good luck. Those are the words to travel by if you're among the hundreds of thousands of Marylanders planning to drive this Memorial Day weekend.
Alex DeMetrick reports it's going to mean life in the slow lane for a lot us.
It's hard to believe anything so big and wide open from can get jammed to a standstill. But according to AAA, gridlock or not, Americans will be on the move Memorial Day weekend.
"Some 34.8 million Americans expecting to take trips of 50 miles or more," said Lon Anderson, AAA Mid-Atlantic.
AAA estimates 721,000 Marylanders will be traveling, up slightly from last year; 350,000 of them will cross the Bay Bridge. Meanwhile, 53,000 Marylanders will travel by air—a 5 percent drop from 2011. And fewer than 23,000 will travel by train or bus.
"It's going to be the highest in five years," Anderson said.
As traffic increases, so does police presence.
"We see more aggressive driving, I believe. Traffic's a lot heavier, people get frustrated. They want to get to their destination, but unfortunately some make bad decisions," said Lt. Dwayne Boardman, Maryland State Police.
A lot of those destinations will end on the beach at Ocean City, which is expecting a good summer.
"Bookings are looking very strong for the summer. We are very encouraged. The phones are ringing off the hook and people are going to websites to book the rooms now," said Donna Abbott, director of Ocean City tourism.
AAA says one reason travel is up this year is because gas prices are 20 cents a gallon cheaper now than they were at this time in 2011.
