Heavy holiday weekend travel begins in New York

The mad travel rush is here. Friday evening is one of the busiest times to be heading out for the holiday weekend.

A record number of New Yorkers are traveling this weekend. A spokesperson with AAA says nearly three million New Yorkers will be traveling more than 50 miles between Friday evening and Monday. These are the highest predictions AAA has seen since they started keeping track about 24 years ago.

Despite gas prices being slightly higher than last Memorial Day, leaders with AAA say it’s all part of a shift in spending habits.

“A lot of folks are interested more now in spending their money on experiences instead of goods and I think travel is certainly on the top of that last for a lot of people,” says Alec Slatky, with AAA.

Also starting Friday night is an initiative from law enforcement across the state to crack down on drinking and driving. Drivers can expect to see sobriety checkpoints and more police patrols on roads all over New York.