AAA: Most People To Travel By Car For Memorial Day
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - With air travel down, 89 percent of travelers this Memorial Day weekend are making their way by car.
34.8 million people are expected to travel more than 50 miles, but 31.2 million are expected on the roads, according to Robert Sinclair with AAA New York.
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"We'll see more travel by motor vehicles as a result of the lower gas prices compared to last year," Sinclair told WCBS 880 reporter Paul Murnane on Friday. "We're at $3.85 a gallon in New York City right now. This time last year we were at $4.03."
AAA: Most People To Travel By Car For Memorial Day
Murnane encountered one bunch of 14 people in Westchester County headed up to a Brazilian martial arts festival in Montreal.
Those traveling Friday morning said they got it right - going in between Thursday's pre-holiday skedaddlers and the Friday night rush.
"There's no travel trailers coming up... Usually we see kayaks, canoes, quads. There doesn't seem to be [any] yet," said on traveler coming from Long Island.
"We're heading to a soccer tournament in New Hampshire," one of five people headed from Pennsylvania told WCBS 880 New Jersey reporter Levon Putney at the Vince Lombardi Service Area.
On The Road In NJ
One veteran on a motorcycle was headed down to Washington, D.C. for Rolling Thunder.
Sinclair said the economy is really driving vacation planning.
"It's really not strong enough to spur people to get out and really travel to a level, the record level, that we saw in 2005 when 44 million traveled over this holiday weekend," he said.
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