July 4 holiday travel expected to be ‘busiest ever’

Americans are on the move in record numbers this week, both on the roads and in the skies as they celebrate the Independence Day holiday.

With July 4 falling on Thursday, many people took the liberty to start their celebrations early by crowding airports and roads last weekend, with the trend expected to continue through Sunday night when the official travel period ends.

By then, nearly 71 million people will have traveled at least 50 miles from home, according to the motoring group AAA.

“With summer vacations in full swing and the flexibility of remote work, more Americans are taking extended trips around Independence Day,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel. “We anticipate July 4 will be the busiest ever with an additional 5.7 million people traveling compared to 2019.”

The Transportation Security Administration saw its fourth-busiest day ever at the start of the holiday rush. On June 28 more than 2.93 million passengers passed through security checkpoints at the nation’s airports. The agency’s five busiest days on record have occurred since Memorial Day weekend, with the 2.99 million passengers screened on June 23 ranking No. 1.

“We expect this summer to be our busiest ever, and summer travel usually peaks over the Independence Day holiday,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “We are ready, along with our airline and airport partners, to handle this boost in passenger volumes.”

TSA expects to screen 32 million passengers between June 27 and Sunday. The big uptick in air travel comes as the average round-trip ticket costs $800 this year, down 2% from last year, AAA booking data said.

The vast majority of travelers — more than 60 million — will go by car, or about 3 million more than last year, according to AAA.

Gas prices are about the same this year as last year during the holiday travel period, with the national average on Thursday expected to be $3.49 a gallon, according to gasbuddy.com. That would be a penny lower than last year, but a whopping $1.30 below what drivers paid in 2022, the gas price tracking app said.

On Tuesday, AAA reported Minnesota’s average price per gallon of regular unleaded fuel was $3.32 and $3.38 in the metro area.

Wednesday is predicted to be the worst day for metro-area motorists heading out of town, especially between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., said Bob Pishue, a transportation analyst for the Seattle-based INRIX, noting that trips by car could take 67% longer with 60 million people on the roads. For those coming back, Sunday will be the worst travel day.

“Always remember, you can’t be mad at traffic,” said J. Skyler McKinley, an AAA spokesman. “You are traffic.”

Volumes aside, road work and flooding could also slow down drivers in Minnesota. While just a few state highways in southern Minnesota remained closed Tuesday, additional rain could cause lake and river levels to rise again and could force MnDOT to shut down highways without much notice, said spokeswoman Anne Meyer.

“Stay aware, be alert and work that into your July 4 plans,” Meyer said. And she said to check Mn511 because “not all navigational tools like Google Maps have up-to-date information about road closures and detours.”