GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — It’s the biggest travel day of the year.
“It’s going to be a very busy travel weekend, the busiest we’ve seen for Thanksgiving on record and we’ve been tracking this for almost 25 years,” says Nick Jarmusz with AAA.
It may feel like every year reaches record-breaking numbers, and Jarmusz says that’s because it does.
“Typically we see these numbers go up year after year unless there’s some kind of major disruption and then we have to rebuild from that, so we saw during the great recession a big decline in travel, and then of course with COVID we saw a massive decline in travel. The previous record was 2019 right before the pandemic started and we’ve been building back slowly but surely.”
AAA says 71.7 million Americans will travel by car over Thanksgiving, surpassing pre-pandemic numbers of 70.6 million in 2019.
“We expect more travelers along I-41 and I-43 in eastern Wisconsin than any other year before, this is going to be an extremely busy travel season, there’s going to be a lot more motorists on our roadways,” says Patrol Officer Jason Seavey f the Fox Valley Metro Police Department.
Just in time for that holiday traffic to hit the roads, the FVMPD was gifted more than $1,100 by AAA to purchase new LED road flares to use while helping stopped or crashed drivers, something it expects to see an increase in over the next 10-plus days.
“Having safety equipment readily available for each individual officer to have at their disposal keeps them safe, keeps them going home to their families and more importantly, it allows us to come back healthy and ready to help the next day,” Seavey says about the new flares.
When it comes to travel in the skies: congestion.
“Thanksgiving is typically more of a drive holiday but airfares are still really great right now, we have some good availability with the airlines so I do expect to see an increase this year over last year for holiday travel but again its always busy during the holidays so we just remind people to pack your patience and be ready to wait in some lines,” says Airport Director Marty Piette at Green Bay’s Austin Straubel International Airport.
If you’re flying with thanksgiving foods, as always, avoid liquids. Be prepared for those Wisconsin meats and cheeses to go through extra screenings.
Last, but not least:
“Ironically a frozen turkey will get through okay because it’s frozen and its solid, a cooked turkey will not get through screening,” Piette adds.
No matter if you’re traveling by land or by air, these experts say to give yourself plenty of time and leave early to avoid congestion and feeling rushed.
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