Busy Start to Summer Anticipated

Roads around the country, and around Kansas, will be busy on the weekend in which summer unofficailly begins.

AAA Kansas projects 39.3 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more from home during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, an increase of one million travelers compared to last year and the highest volume of travellers since 2005. Over eighty-eight percent of travelers, 34.6 million, will travel by automobile, an increase of 2.7 percent from the 33 million who traveled by automobile last year.

Despite this increase in road trips, gas prices are higher than last year. In Kansas, drivers will pay slightly higher Memorial Day gas prices than last year, when the Kansas average was about $2.23. The national average for a gallon of gasoline today is $2.34, up 11 cents from last year.

The Memorial Day holiday travel period is defined as the 5-day period starting today through Monday, May 29th.]