Millions expected to travel over Memorial Day weekend

From driving to flying, this Memorial Day weekend is set to be a busy one. AAA is predicting one million of those Virginia travelers will be heading to their destination by car while over 100,000 will be up in the sky.

This weekend marks the start of Memorial Day festivities and at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Airport, they are expecting over 6,000 to jet off over the long weekend.

“On any given day we have 1,000 to 1,500 passengers, so throughout this weekend into the summer we are going to be on the high end of that,” Alexa Briehl, public relations, marketing, and media manager at the Roanoke airport said.

When chatting with people around town there were lots of mixed reviews, some people are heading out while others are planning to stay close to home for different reasons.

“My husband and I are going to Alderson, West Virginia for their Sunset Farm Strawberry Festival,” one person said.

AAA said the best day to try and beat the crowds is on Saturday.

“She’ll be driving, she’s coming from North Carolina she’ll be driving on Saturday morning with the easy travel time. I know it’s going to be busy, but I hope she gets here safe and sound,” another said.

With over a million Virginians getting behind the wheel for the holiday weekend, some are worried about the roads being packed.

“A little bit, but since we are going Thursday, I’m hoping to avoid it for the most part, then we won’t come back till Monday…oh no, that’s actually Memorial Day…that might be horrible,” Angel Hawes said.

TSA forecasts Friday, May 24, to be the busiest travel day of the long Memorial Day weekend, anticipating nearly three million passengers. From May 23 to May 29, the agency expects to screen more than 18 million passengers and crew, representing a checkpoint volume increase of approximately 6.4% compared to the same period in 2023.