How to handle the busiest 4th of July travel day ever and the return home

MIDTOWN, Manhattan (PIX11) — Transportation tracking services call this week the busiest Fourth of July travel day ever, with the numbers of drivers and passengers at levels even higher than pre-pandemic records.

This is true for virtually every method of travel, a fact that has prompted millions of people across the tri-state and nationwide to figure out how to deal with the heavy volume as they navigate their way to their destinations. 

“I’m used to when to come out and when not to come out on the road,” said Amanda McBreary, as she prepared to get into her SUV after a coffee stop at the Alexander Hamilton Service Area rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. 

McBreary commutes farther each day than many of her fellow drivers on the highways on Wednesday—she drives almost daily from sales meetings in East Jersey back to her home in Pennsylvania. The travel guidance she follows is similar to that of other drivers, including Steve Walker. He was at the rest stop in Secaucus with his family on their way from Connecticut to Washington, D.C.

“Not unexpected,” he said about the high traffic volume, “given the holiday, so, you know, got to mentally prepare for it.”

It’s also good advice for handling other modes of transportation on the busiest Independence Day holiday travel day ever. 

Jean Dublin and her husband were at New York Penn Station on Wednesday, waiting for an NJ Transit transit train to a reunion and retreat. 

Even though NJ Transit shut down multiple times last month and had a variety of delays during the same period, Dublin said that she had a positive mindset for her holiday travel on the rails. 

“Why should you be concerned about the things you don’t have control over?” she asked. “I don’t have no control over the weather or the train situation, no. So just sit, relax, and have fun.”

Amtrak has also had delays similar to NJ Transit’s since they share infrastructure. 

Alex Garcia, who was in Penn Station waiting for an NJ Transit train to Newark Liberty Airport, lives in Saratoga Springs. She had taken an Amtrak train from her hometown to New York and was by no means finished using various transportation modes. 

After arriving at the airport, she said, she’d take to the air.

“To our flight to Paris and then from Paris to Amsterdam,” she said. 

At Newark Airport, the departure and arrival boards displayed a modest number of delays, and passengers said that people have to anticipate some obstacles to quick travel. 

He was among 5.7 million people flying nationwide on Wednesday, 60.6 million traveling in cars, and 4.6 million traveling by bus. The overwhelming majority of those travelers will return, with Sunday, July 7, being the busiest return travel day. 

According to AAA and INRIX, two transportation mode monitors who also calculated the outbound travel numbers, the busiest travel times will be in the afternoon and evening. 

Garcia, who’s expecting to use every mode of motorized travel during her trip this week, said the best way to handle the high volume of return travelers is simple. 

“Be prepared and be patient,” she said. “Everybody’s traveling.”