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Busier roads expected this year — particularly today

The Thanksgiving holiday brings an increase of drivers on the road — especially today, according to Nina Waskevich, vice president of brand and membership at AAA.

She explained that this holiday season, there will be the most travelers since the 2005 Thanksgiving holiday.

“Basically we expect more than 55 million travelers traveling this Thanksgiving season, that’s the most since 2005,” she said.

Statistics also show that there will be more travelers driving on the roads this holiday season than flying due to lower national gas price averages according to Waskevich.

“Overall, 1.6 million more will travel compared to last year,” Waskevich said, “a 2.9 percent increase and a majority are driving. The national average price for gas is at $2.57, which is lower than last year.”

She also added that there will be record travel delays today for those who are doing traveling the day before and recommends that people wait until later in the day today or early Thursday morning to get to their destination.

Kim Smith, safety press officer at the state Department of Transportation, added to the conversation by giving safety tips for drivers that will be on the road after the expected increase in travelers.

She also spoke about the dangers of driving tonight as there are a multitude of people who do not work over the holiday and stay out late with friends at local bars.

“We do expect to see a lot of cars on the road,” she said. “We want to remind everyone to always wear their seatbelts, avoid distractions and to never drive impaired. Also think of things you may need along the road if you were to incur some inclement weather.”

There will be a cold front coming in with wind gusts and rain through the holiday that could cause an increase in travel delays, according to John Banghoff, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

“Today is going to be a little bit rainy,” he said. He added that there could be a half an inch of rain with winds picking up throughout the afternoon to be around 15 to 20 miles per hour with gusts reaching almost 50 miles an hour.

“The biggest thing is high profile vehicles with gusty winds driving north or south,” Banghoff said. “Hold on tight because it will be breezy driving.”

He added that winds will taper off on Thursday and the temperatures will be in the mid-40s with a possible chance for flurries with the cold front. He said that the flurries will not be significant and the focus for travelers should be on the wind.

“When there is inclement weather you want to reduce your speed, make sure your headlights are on and increase your following distance to give more time to react if something were to happen in front of you,” Smith said.

Banghoff added that Friday’s weather is similar in that the morning temperatures will be just below freezing but will warm up during the day, making a good day for shopping.

“It will be pretty similar Friday,” Banghoff added. “Plenty of sunshine and lighter winds. It will be a nice day for Black Friday shopping.”

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