More drivers to be on roads for Fourth

Expect more traffic than usual this Fourth of July holiday. According to an AAA Idaho said news release, 42.3 million Americans will take to the roadways, skyways and byways — representing a 4.9 percent increase a year ago.

Taking cues from Americans’ appetite for travel, a mid-week holiday, and generally lower gasoline prices, the increase is expected outpace the 40.3 million people who traveled last year. And it should be enough to tie the past decade’s high mark set in 2007, prior to the Great Recession. The travel volume is expected to represent a near 42 percent increase from 2009.

The Independence Day holiday travel period is defined as Tuesday, July 3 to Sunday July 8.

Since July 4 falls on a Wednesday, the calendar will place a significant role in driving up holiday travel, helping expand a traditional five-day travel period to six days or more. The mid-week holiday will give travelers the option of including a weekend and two days on either side of July 4.
AAA’s travel intender survey found that fifty-four (54) percent of people planning to travel will begin their Independence Day travel trip prior to the start of the work week that includes July 4. Response percentages by trip departure day are:

25 percent – Friday, June 29 16 percent – Saturday, June 30 13 percent – Sunday, July 1 11 percent – Monday, July 2 19 percent – Tuesday, July 3 16 percent – Wednesday, July 4

“We view the projected increase in travel as a positive signal even though it’s surrounded by a mixed bag of economic drivers,” said AAA Idaho Public Affairs Director Dave Carlson in the news release. “Modest improvements in the economy and lower gas prices throughout much of the country can make for a healthier travel season.”

Driven largely by a $25 drop in the price for a barrel of oil, gas prices nationally have tumbled 44 cents a gallon since the first week of April, from $3.94 a gallon to $3.50 currently. The U.S. average price is 15 cents lower than a year ago.

The U.S. average price is down 19 cents in the past month.

But Idaho’s average pump price, which trailed the national average price by as much as 43 cents a gallon earlier in the year, has not reacted to dropping oil prices. In fact, Idaho pump prices actually rose up in May, and have not dropped below $3.70 since the third week in March. Idaho’s average price is down just five cents in the past month to a current average of $3.75 a gallon..

This places Idaho’s average price sixth highest in the U.S. and 25 cents higher than the national average mark. It’s 6 cents higher than a year ago.
Lower gas prices nationally are expected to help drive larger holiday travel numbers. Auto travel demand in Idaho and Mountain states is expected to increase 3.6 percent, compared to 4.0 percent nationally.

The travel projections are based on economic and forecasting research conducted by IHS Global Insight, a research consulting firm that works jointly with AAA to analyze travel trends during the major holidays.