© 2024 Maine Public | Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.

'The Roads Are Going To Be Busy' — Expect Increased Holiday Traffic, Despite Pandemic

Robert F. Bukaty
/
Associated Press
Traffic slows for the York tolls on the Maine Turnpike, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009, in York, Maine.

Despite the surge in COVID-19 cases around the country, millions of New Englanders are expected to travel this long Thanksgiving weekend — but not quite as many as in recent years.

“This is going to be the first year since 2008 when we’re experiencing a decrease in Thanksgiving Holiday travel,” says Pat Moody with AAA Northern New England.

Moody says about 50 million Americans across the country will travel at least 50 miles during the holiday weekend — about 10% fewer than last year.

“Here in New England, we’re projecting about 2.2 million New Englanders are going to be traveling, and about 95% are going to be going by automobile — so the roads are going to be busy,” he says.

Airline travel is expected to be down by about 50%. Other ticketed modes — such as trains, buses and boats — will be down by at least 70%.

Moody says more people are choosing to drive private vehicles in part due to social distancing requirements, and so they can change plans if they need to.

“We do have a little bit more flexibility and we can plan a little bit later in our decision making. People are going to be taking shorter trips. Not going for as many days, and also not going as far away from home,” he says.

Moody cautions that roads could get quite busy, especially Wednesday afternoon and evening as holiday travel converges with daily commuters.

“Last year we had over a million transactions in that five days, this year we’re expecting it to be about 14 percent lower,” says Erin Courtney with the Maine Turnpike Authority.

That’s about 913,000 individual toll transactions.

While commercial traffic, such as supply trucks, have made up for some of the traffic lost during the pandemic, the Turnpike Authority expects to finish the year about 21% behind last year.

Moody is urging travelers to prepare especially well for roadside emergencies, and to know the rules and restrictions regarding travel, testing, masking, and quarantine before setting out on any journey.