AAA: Independence Day Travel To Break Record
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- It's going to be a busy holiday weekend on the nation's highways.
AAA estimates a record 43 million Americans will be traveling this Independence Day weekend, topping the record first set in 2007 and matched last year. It's also 5 million more than the Memorial Day weekend in May.
"This is a record indeed," AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair, Jr. told WCBS 880's Sean Adams.
An overwhelming majority of those travelers, more than 84 percent, will be driving, putting some 36 million people on the roads.
Gas prices remain relatively low. AAA puts the nationwide average at $2.31 per gallon, some 47 cents less than a year ago. Those lower prices along with strong consumer confidence and a generally healthy U.S. economy have led more families to take trips this summer.
Sinclair believes gas prices will keep trending downward.
"With this whole Brexit phenomenon and the plunge of crude oil as a result, gas prices probably are even going to get better as we go forward," he said. "They're still falling at 3 to 4 cents per gallon per week for the national average so it looks like the trend is going to continue."
The travel group estimates that U.S. drivers have saved $20 billion on gasoline so far this year compared to the same period last year.
More people are also flying and cruise bookings are up 35 percent over last year, Adams reported.
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