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AAA projects high travel turnout in Maryland over Memorial Day

Holiday Travel Colorado
Posted at 3:05 PM, May 24, 2023
and last updated 2023-05-25 13:32:23-04

BALTIMORE — Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer and according to AAA, nearly 853,000 Marylanders are expected to travel in some capacity over the holiday weekend.

That's six percent over last year's estimate but still six percent under pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

Nationally 2.7 million more people are projected to travel this year compared to last.

"In Maryland and the Washington, D.C. Metro area, AAA expects this to be the fourth busiest Memorial Day weekend since 2000 - when AAA started tracking holiday travel," said Ragina Cooper Ali, of AAA Mid-Atlantic.

While an estimated 70,680 Maryland travelers plan to fly this holiday, a majority (754,840) will be driving. To that end AAA Emergency Roadside crews expect to respond to more than 9,300 calls in Maryland for members left stranded by dead batteries, tire trouble, lockouts, or even running out of gas.

Although still significantly higher than 2020, gas prices are about $1.05 less than last year.