AAA expects 72.2 million people to travel over Independence Day, and most of them will be on the road. The group says 85% of holiday travelers will go by car, turning the July 4 period into a weeklong stretch of heavy traffic rather than a single busy day.
That forecast matters now because the first real rush is expected on the 27th, when travelers start heading out for what AAA describes as a full week of holiday travel. Mark Schieldrop said people planning to drive should leave earlier if they can, since commutes and traffic will generally build right around lunchtime most days over the holiday.
Schieldrop said the July 4 week is one of the busiest stretches on the roadways and the peak of the summer driving season. He added that Americans are still determined to travel even with high inflation and other economic pressures, cutting back in other parts of their budgets to afford trips.
Gas prices have eased in recent weeks, which should help some drivers, but Massachusetts is still nearly a dollar higher than it was last year. That leaves holiday trips cheaper than they were a few weeks ago, but still more expensive than a year earlier, even as the urge to travel holds up.
The one open variable is weather, which Schieldrop said can change traffic ahead of Independence Day. For now, the clearer picture is that the roads will stay crowded through the holiday week, and the people most affected are the ones who wait until the middle of the day to leave.
Schieldrop’s advice is simple: go earlier, not later. With traffic expected to climb around lunchtime and stay elevated after July 4, the safest bet for drivers is to treat Independence Day travel like a full-week event, not a weekend errand.
