We all know the drill: The sooner you can head out, the better... or wait until much later in the day on holiday weekends for traveling purposes.
AAA predicts 39.2 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home this Memorial Day weekend.
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It’s expected to be the busiest Memorial Day Weekend for travel in the past two years – since the pandemic began, of course.
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"We expect close to a million Massachusetts residents will be traveling this weekend, that’s a pretty substantial increase over last year," AAA Northeast spokesperson Mark Schieldrop said.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has stopped all construction and road work as of 5 a.m. Friday morning through 5 a.m. Tuesday.
The HOV lane on Interstate 93 will open early at 1 p.m. Friday to try to help ease predicted congestion.
Another thing to keep in mind is of course gas prices – they’re above $5 a gallon along the Massachusetts Turnpike. AAA says the average in Massachusetts is $4.73 a gallon.
So you might save a little filling up before you hop on the highway.
AAA says there are some simple ways to conserve gas, even when driving long distances.
"You can really improve your fuel economy just by easing up on the gas pedal a little bit, most cars lost their fuel efficiency above 50 miles an hour," Schieldrop said.
If you’re headed to Logan, AAA says that airports are also expected to be busy, with air travel up 25 percent over last year.
AAA says the worst time to be traveling on your return trip this weekend is on Monday afternoon.
