Washington(DC News Now) — With Independence Day just around the corner, Wednesday is expected to be the worst day for traffic congestion.
AAA projects that 70.9 million travelers will travel more than 50 miles from home between Saturday, June 29 and Sunday, July 7. This includes 60.6 million people traveling by car and 5.74 million people traveling by plane.
“Honestly, I thought it was going to be a lot more difficult because they told us it was going to be a busy week of traveling, but it’s been very smooth,” Colleen McNickle said.
At Reagan National Airport, travelers were excited to celebrate Independence Day.
“Small town fireworks and stuff like that, so it’s not going to be like the Washington DC fireworks, but it’s still fun to go and see,” Bud Harrell said.
Ashley Eve already has plans for the Fourth of July.
“I go to my sister’s pool and then I come home and snuggle with the dogs who are scared of the fireworks,” Eve said.
At the gas station, drivers, including Natalie Lozano, were pumping gas into their cars for a holiday drive to Virginia Beach on Thursday morning.
“I get off at 12 o’clock so I leave at 5 o’clock. There’s usually traffic so hopefully I can get there by about 9 o’clock,” Natalie Lozano said.
Juan Lozano stays in town for the Washington DC fireworks
“It’s not worth driving an extra four or eight hours. I like to drive slowly, but I hate traffic jams,” Juan Lozano said.
He’s going out of town this weekend.
“We’re leaving after the holidays to avoid traffic jams. We’ll leave on Saturday morning and come back on Tuesday when there’s less traffic,” Lozano said.
AAA said the national average gasoline price is down slightly from this time last year.