The long Memorial Day holiday weekend officially begins Friday, and if you’re traveling, take your patience with you.
AAA is predicting more than 1.3 million Georgians will travel 50 miles or more from home this weekend. That’s 86,000 more than last year. Nationwide, the number traveling is expected to top 42 million.
Despite higher costs, air travel is expected to surpass levels not seen since before the pandemic. In fact, this is expected to be the third busiest Memorial Day weekend as far as traffic is concerned since 2000. In Georgia, the Department of Transportation is suspending construction-related lane closures starting at noon Friday through 5 am Tuesday, to keep traffic flowing as smoothly as possible.
If your travels will take you in and around the Atlanta area, the Georgia Department of Transportation says the following tips could be helpful:
- Worse-than-normal traffic is expected Friday, May 26, with an increase in congestion starting as early as noon
- Motorists can expect to add about 30-45 minutes to their travel times
- Saturday, May 27, is expected to have afternoon congestion on downtown interstates
- Sunday, May 28 and Monday, May 29 are predicted to have lighter-than-usual traffic.
- Before you hit the road, visit 511ga,org and download the free 511 Georgia app for navigation, estimated travel times and real-time travel speeds.