Roads Filling With Holiday Travelers

Roads around Kansas are filling with holiday travelers.

According to AAA Kansas, 94.5 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more from home during the year-end holiday season, an increase of 0.6 percent from the 94 million people who traveled last year. Nearly 30 percent (29.7) of all Americans will take a trip this holiday, with more than one in four (27 percent) taking a road trip.

This upward trend marks the fifth consecutive year of increases and the highest travel volume recorded for the season.
Ninety-one percent of travelers or 85.8 million to travel by automobile, an increase of 0.9 percent.

Holiday air travel is expected to decline slightly to 5.53 million travelers from 5.61 last year.

Median spending expected to increase slightly to $765, compared to $759 last year.

Gas prices have climbed slightly from the multi-year low of $3.18 per gallon on November 12, but AAA expects most drivers will pay less than a year ago to fill up during the holiday season. Gas prices recently increased because of planned and unplanned maintenance at a number of refineries and seasonally stronger demand for gasoline. Prices should decline by the end of the year due to rising supplies and increased refinery production.

The year-end holiday period is defined as Saturday, December 21 to Wednesday, January 1.