ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – It’s the day before millions of Americans will turn on football and chow down on some turkey, but travelers have got to get there first, and while AAA expects about a million people to travel 50 miles or more to get home and, in Virginia, it will be about 1.9 million.
The Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport (ROA) is ready for the rush, especially since they already saw a spike of students traveling last week. On a normal day the airport can see around one thousand travelers- but this season- they say it could be over fourteen hundred.
“The number one tip I can recommend is give yourself plenty of time. If you’re coming to the airport, give yourself at least two hours, especially if you’re checking a bag. To locate parking, go to the airport counter, get through security, and get a snack. TSA has some fantastic resources about what to pack and what not to pack. You don’t want to be that person,” said Alexa Brielh, the public relations, marketing, and media manager at ROA.
The airport is also undergoing some parking lot construction- so if you come out to pick a family member up, park in the lot- which is free for the first thirty minutes, wait for a call from your family saying they’re outside, that will help avoid traffic from building up right at the terminal.
Airlines are getting travel numbers back up to those pre-pandemic rates, but AAA is forecasting even more will travel by car this season, an almost 2% increase from last year.
With a projection of 1.9 Million driving here in the Commonwealth, AAA says patience on the road is the way to go.
“Even if you do it all right though, there’s a chance you’re gonna run into a backup. But being prepared for that, being a focused driver, limiting those distractions, the cell phones the worst one, it’s illegal to have it in hand here in Virginia, but its not the only one. Everything in that car can distract you. Looking away from the road for two seconds doubles your risk of being in a crash, and we don’t want anyone to be in a crash- we want them to get safely where they’re going.” said Morgan Dean, AAA’s mid-Atlantic spokesperson.
AAA says the Sunday after the holiday will also be busy, with noon to 6 p.m. having the most cars on the road. Their biggest advice is to be prepared when you start planning your driving tips- and if you plan on going out of state: Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina all have cheaper gas averages than Virginia.
However, here in the Commonwealth, the average gas price is lower than it has been this year at $2.95, and AAA is hopeful those prices will keep going down the rest of this holiday season.