4th of July travel expected to set new record

DAYTON — A record Fourth of July travel stretch is on the way, according to AAA.

Across the country and in Ohio, nearly 71 million people are expected to be on the move for the holiday, an overwhelming amount will be on the roads.

“We’re looking at 60.6 million people who will be driving across the country. Now if you look closer at Ohio, we’re still looking at a record number of 3.3 million traveling in Ohio, and 3 million of those will be driving,” Kara Hitchens, public and government affairs manager with AAA said.

WHIO Travel Expert Jake Magnotta said this could mean backups on already problematic spots in the MIami Valley — like I-75.

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His advice is to be prepared before you leave.

“For anybody about to head out, before you get a head start on Holiday travel I would say know your alternate routes, busy spots. Know if you’re going through one of our construction zones we’ve dealt with for months, there could be an accident there. Know your routes,” Magnotta said.

Hitchens said after not being able to travel for many years due to the pandemic people are itching to travel.

“Now they’ve saved up some money they’re doing those bucket list travels, they’re doing what we’ve heard called heritage travel where you travel back to the homeland with your grandparents or great grandparents, something like that,” she said.

AAA said road travel for the holiday in Ohio is expected to jump more than five percent from last year.

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