Across New England, expect a busy travel weekend on the roads for Fourth of July

This weekend is expected to be New England’s busiest ever Fourth of July on the roads, according to AAA.

“Despite the record gas prices that we’ve been seeing this summer, 2.4 million New Englanders are going to be traveling by car to their destination,” said Tracy Noble, Northeastern AAA’s public affairs manager.

Gas prices are down slightly from their peak earlier in June, currently about $4.93 for a gallon of regular in Massachusetts.

“People over the course of the last two years, thanks to COVID, had changed their vacation plans, stayed home and just altered their plans in general,” Noble said. “So this year, they made their plans early, and they’re sticking with it.”

Across the country, air travel is down over 9% this weekend compared to 2019 due to more expensive plane tickets and mass flight cancellations.

National AAA expects travel times to increase 50% this weekend, and it encourages drivers to avoid the roads on Friday afternoon.

This story is a production of New England News Collaborative. It was originally published by Connecticut Public Radio.