Nearly 104 Million Americans Expected to Travel By Car For The Holidays

CHARLOTTE – This 2023 holiday travel season, the United States is expecting to see 115.2 million travelers head 50 miles or more from home according to AAA. Nearly 104 million of that will travel by car. That’s up more than 2% from last year.

Hannah Blaine is only heading to Columbia, South Carolina on Friday for the holiday, but knows how messy road travel can be this time of year.

“Any time leaving Charlotte on a Friday afternoon is no fun, with Christmas I’m sure it’ll be worse,” says Blaine.

In North Carolina, 3.5 million people are expected to travel, three million of those people will drive. Saturday the 23rd, Thursday the 28th and Saturday the 30th will be the most congested days on the roads.

If you are planning to go anywhere the week between Christmas and new Year’s, the experts say the best time to travel any of those days is before noon. Jen Goodwin with the North Carolina Department of Transportation tells WCCB’s Emma Mondo that North Carolina drivers can travel with a little peace of mind this year though.

“If you’re in North Carolina, a lot of interstates are patrolled by our incident management assistance patrol. So, that’s sponsored by Gieco, and that is not anything you have to pay for, it’s all free,” says Goodwin.

What does that mean for you? If you run out of gas or get a flat tire, incident management can help you get to the next exit to get a proper fix.

“You’re going to a see lot of law enforcement out there because were going to see law enforcement crack down on drinking and driving of course,’ says Goodwin. “Practice patience everyone’s just wanting to get to their destination and enjoy time with family and friends.”