COLUMBUS – Millions of Ohioans are hitting the roads or boarding airplanes today as they embark on what is expected to be the busiest Thanksgiving travel weekend in more than a decade.
The auto club AAA is predicting 2 million Ohioans will be traveling at least 50 miles from home between Wednesday and Monday, a 2.1 percent increase over last year.
“This marks the highest Thanksgiving travel volume since 2005, so we’re going to see more travelers out there this weekend than we have in the past 11 years,” said AAA Ohio spokeswoman Kim Schwind.
She credits the increase to a strengthening economy during the second half of the years, driven by higher wages, cheaper gas (see graph) and heightened consumer confidence.
The 48.7 million Americans expected to travel for Thanksgiving is the highest number since 2007, she said.
Despite recent increases in gas prices in Ohio and other Midwestern states, the auto club’s analysts predict drivers in the region will see some relief at the pump soon. The 10-cents-per-gallon hike Ohioans noticed at the gas stations this past Monday, compared with a week earlier, was the price jump in the nation. But the AAA says a major refinery is wrapping up planned maintenance that started in September, which should increase the fuel supply in the region
The Ohio State Highway Patrol is reminding motorists that, with 2 million of them on the highways, they need to exercise patience and leave for their destinations early to keeping roadways safe.
“A lot of people are going to be driving 50- miles or more, a lot of people are driving to airports, so be patient, give yourself extra time and be courteous to your fellow motorists,” said patrol Lt. Robert Sellers. “Just those two things by themselves will make your holiday travel much easier and much better.”
The patrol, as always, encourages seat belt use. From 2012 to 2014, more than half of people killed on Ohio’s roadways were not wearing a safety belt. Last year, nine people were killed and 118 seriously hurt in 4,007 crashes during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and seat belts were not used in 282 of them.
Travelers will also encounter plenty of orange barrels, though the Ohio Department of Transportation makes every effort possible to reduce the number and size of work zones during top travel holidays and many projects have been completed ahead of schedule, including the State Route 16/Cherry Valley Road interchange in Licking County and the Carroll interchange project in Fairfield County, which has eliminated the intersection at Winchester Road and U.S. Route 33, department spokesman Matt Bruning said.
Motorists can download Ohio’s official traffic app, OHGO, which is available for Apple and Android devices, to view real-time traffic speeds, more than 600 live traffic cameras, construction zone information, and traffic alerts.
Bruning says users can create a customized route and get alerts pushed directly to their phones.