Sun, holiday to spur weekend travel
Memorial Day traffic expected to increase, especially on roads
With the sun finally emerging to promise a gloriously warm Memorial Day weekend, Marylanders are expected to flock to the beach and other destinations for the unofficial kickoff of summer, taking advantage of low gasoline prices.
An estimated 814,300 state residents will travel over the long weekend, a slight increase from last year and the most since 2005, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.
“We didn't have a brutal winter, but we had winter, and it was a chilly and wet spring,” said AAA spokeswoman Ragina Cooper-Averella. “People are eager to have summer come.”
Ninety percent of those travelers, or 733,100, are expected to drive to their destinations, the motorists group said. It is a choice partly fueled by the gas price of $2.26 per gallon for regular unleaded, which, while higher than in the past few months, is 41 cents lower than on last Memorial Day.
The numbers reflect national trends. More than 38 million people nationwide are expected to travel over the holiday weekend, an increase of nearly 2 percent from last year. Gas prices nationwide are 45 cents lower than a year ago.
Memorial Day travel projections are made without taking weather into account, but one of the rainiest Mays on record will weigh significantly on people's decisions to hit the road for the weekend, Cooper-Averella said.
This weekend is expected to be mostly sunny, clear and warm, which is expected to draw people to the water and the beach.
Ocean City expects 250,000 to 300,000 to pack its beaches, boardwalk and restaurants this weekend, spokeswoman Jessica Waters said, especially after what she called “a depressing spring.”
“Memorial Day is really the kickoff of our summer season,” she said. “Everybody's been cooped inside for the last month. A lot of people are going to be anxious to get to the beach for some much-needed sunshine.”
Carol Johnson, 78, a retired Baltimore history teacher, will join the fray on the roads Friday with her daughter and son-in-law — but not en route to the beach. The Civil War re-enactors plan to make the 11/2-hour drive to Gettysburg for a parade that precedes a July 4 battle re-enactment.
Johnson, a native of Cherokee, N.C., dons the garb of the 37th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, on the Confederate side. Her daughter and son-in-law wear Union blue.
“I'm the enemy,” Johnson said. “I have to be; I was born there. But I don't fight the war. I just re-enact.”
Johnson said she sees re-enacting as an extension of her 45-year teaching career in Maryland and New York.
“If we don't keep history alive for our children, they'll forget about it,” she said. “I'm delighted when families come up and get engrossed.”
Kathleen Overman, 26, a local food advocate who lives in Hampden, will head to Philadelphia for the weekend for work, not pleasure. Holiday weekends offer the founder of Sweet Leenie some of the best opportunities to represent small, local food sellers such as B'More Organic and Salazon Chocolate Co. at grocery stores around the region.
Several of her employees are driving out of the city for the weekend for fun, she said. She's not too worried about the traffic.
“I'll avoid it, going to Philly instead of the beach,” she said. “But people are excited to get away from the rain for the start of the summer.”
Leo Barmak, 50, of Owings Mills and his family will fly from BWI to the Dominican Republic on Memorial Day for a weeklong vacation.
More than 58,000 Marylanders are expected to travel by air over the weekend, a 7 percent rise, which AAA attributed to a 26?percent drop in average airfare since last year for the top domestic flights. About 2.6?million people are expected to fly nationwide over the weekend, a 1.6 percent increase.
Barmak is not concerned about long wait times at the BWI security checkpoints because his family's flight leaves early Monday, outside peak travel times.
The use of other modes of travel, such as trains, buses and cruises, is forecast to drop 5.2 percent for the weekend, AAA said. Cooper-Averella attributed the decline — the second year in a row such travel fell — to cheap gasoline prices.
With so many drivers on the highway, Barmak said, a Memorial Day weekend road trip was out of the question.
“I hate driving,” he said. “The traffic is ridiculous. If you're going to New York, you're going to be stuck for three, six hours.”
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