Photo: WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The holidays are around the corner, and many are getting ready to hit the roads after work ends on Friday. AAA expects 119.3 million people across the country will travel 50 miles or more from Dec. 21 to Jan. 1.
The estimate narrowly surpasses the previous travel record set in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, by 64,000 travelers. AAA also expects 3 million more travelers than last year.
But a Wednesday Christmas leaves an ambiguous start to the holiday rush. WBZ NewsRadio spoke to people off I-95 near Newburyport.
“Working Monday of next week and then I got the rest of the week off,” one person said.
“I don’t start [my vacation] until Wednesday,” said another.
On Thursday, MassDOT said they expected less traffic congestion next week than a normal work week, but warned about some slight delays around Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after Christmas.
Meanwhile, Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel, said that because it’s a mid-week Christmas, they’re anticipating record-travel numbers the weekend before and after the holiday.”
While AAA expects that most people will be traveling by car, Massport expects a busy holiday season at Logan Airport, after a record-breaking year. Logan saw the most passengers of all time in 2024.
Nationwide, AAA predicts 7.85 million people will travel by air, which would also set a record, surpassing the 7.5 million travelers seen during the 2023 holiday season.
Friday is expected to be the single busiest day of the year for car rental companies.
The average gas price in Massachusetts is at $3.02 per gallon, which is the same as the national average.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Kendall Buhl (@WBZKendall) reports.