COLUMBUS – After 11 straight years of growth, the AAA auto is predicting a 30% drop in the number of Ohioans traveling during the 12-day year-end holiday travel period, which runs through Jan. 3.
Amid concerns about COVID-19 sand warnings from health officials not to travel and to avoid large gatherings, Kimberly Schwind, senior public affairs manager for AAA Ohio Auto Club, says 34 million fewer Americans – and 1.4 million fewer Ohioans — will travel for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
Of those who venture away from home, Schwind says nearly 3.3 million Ohioans will join more than 81 million Americans traveling by car.
“This will still be a decline of about 25% compared to last year nationally and 26% in Ohio,” she said.
The auto club, the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Ohio State Highway Patrol are reminding those who are on the roadways to be careful. Sixteen people died in 12 accidents during the holiday travel period in 2019-20, according to the patrol.
ODOT officials say travelers will encounter orange barrels in locations like I-70/71 in downtown Columbus and on I-75 in Cincinnati and Toledo, though the Brent Spence Bridge between Ohio and Kentucky has reopened in time for holiday travel.
The pandemic had kept gas prices low all year and holiday motorists will find themselves paying 21 cents les for a gallon of regular than a year ago with some of the most expensive gas in Ohio being sold at stations in central Ohio, where the average price on Wednesday morning was about 10 cents higher than the statewide and national averages.
One thing drivers shouldn’t do: Drive on that single solid white line on the right side of the road, even though a state Supreme Court decision makes it sound tempting.
The justices ruled in 5-2 decision that a State Highway Patrol trooper incorrectly charged a motorist with OVI for doing that in Clermont County 2018.
Writing for the majority, Justice Sharon Kennedy said Ohio’s manual for “traffic control devices,” such as signals and markings, only “discourages or prohibits crossing.” It is not a violation if the car tire touches the line.