AAA Predicts Most Thanksgiving Travelers In Wisconsin Since 2007

Just more than 1 million Wisconsinites will be traveling for Thanksgiving this year, the most since Thanksgiving 2007, according to AAA Wisconsin.

Driving is by far the most popular mode of transportation for the holiday with about 913,000 people hitting the road, 72,000 people flying and about 28,000 traveling by train, bus or cruise, AAA Wisconsin predicts.

There has been a trend of more people driving for Thanksgiving each of the last eight years because of an improving economy, Nicholas Jarmusz, director of public affairs at AAA Wisconsin, said.

Almost 2 percent more cars will be on the roads from Wednesday to Sunday compared to the same time last year.

“Folks are feeling a little more confident about their income, about their employment security; and they’re willing to spend the money that’s necessary to travel either to visit family or even to just utilize this long weekend for some leisure travel,” Jarmusz said.

The average price of a gallon of gas in Wisconsin decreased from $2.27 in 2015 to $2.03 this year, according to AAA Wisconsin. Gas prices dropped a similar amount from 2014 to 2015, which made it possible for people to save more money, he said.

“There’s this accumulation of savings that people have realized over the course of the year and they’re able to apply that to the expense of traveling for the holidays,” Jarmusz said.

Nationally, 48.7 million Americans are expected to travel at least 50 miles from their home for the holiday.

He said drivers should expect the roads to be most congested on the day before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after.