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Travelers To Hit The Road For Labor Day

By: Armando Trull // August 30, 2012
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Despite higher gas prices, more travelers are expected to hit the road this Labor Day weekend.
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Despite higher gas prices, more travelers are expected to hit the road this Labor Day weekend.

Gas prices may have spiked 40 cents or more in the past two months, but that's not putting the breaks on travel plans for many vacationers from the Washington, D.C. area.

AAA Mid-Atlantic estimates that around 694,000 people will travel by car for the long Labor Day weekend. That's a 3.5 percent increase in the number of Washingtonian area residents that traveled out of town last year.

"I think that's an important economic indicator that folks in the Washington Metropolitan area really have put the Great Recession behind them," says Lon Anderson with AAA. "While we may regret being stuck in traffic on Labor Day, let's remember what it means."

The majority of people in the Metro area, 87 percent, are driving, but also expect big crowds at Reagan National, BWI and Dulles Airport — about 63,000, according to AAA. Approximately 43,000 will tarvel using buses, trains or cruise ships, according to the predictions. 

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