AAA predicts very busy Thanksgiving travel this year

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - The Thanksgiving holiday is next week, and AAA has come out with their travel predictions. They say it’s going to be one of the busiest for travel!

“We are expecting about 55.4 million to travel this Thanksgiving between Wednesday and Sunday,” said Lori Weaver Hawkins of AAA Bluegrass.

According to AAA, this will be the third busiest travel period for Thanksgiving since AAA began tracking in 2000, which is up 2.3 percent from last year.

Many start Thanksgiving travel on Wednesday, and Weaver Hawkins said the earlier you leave, the better.

“We want to remind people to try to get on the road early. Wednesday, in particular, is going to be very busy for road travel. So if you can leave out in the morning, that would be great. Avoid the hours between 2 and 6 p.m. on Wednesday if at all possible. Those are going to be the busiest hours on the road,” said Weaver Hawkins.

If you are traveling by road, there are some basic things you want to do to be prepared. This includes checking your tire pressure.

“This time of year when we have these wide temperature fluctuations as we have been experiencing the last several weeks... that can wreak havoc with your tire pressure, so you want proper tire pressure before you are heading out. That is not only good for maintaining your tires but also very important to help grip the road, especially if you hit some wet roadways along the way, and of course, you get the best gas mileage if you have proper tire pressure,” said Weaver Hawkins.

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