COLORADO SPRINGS – It’s the start of the big holiday commute and AAA called Thursday the worst travel day of the year.
Thousands of people in Colorado are expected to travel by plane and over a million others by car.
Skyler McKinley, spokesperson for AAA Colorado, said about 102 million Americans are traveling for the holidays and in Colorado it’s about 1.8 million. From that, 1.7 million people are going to be hitting the roads.
Lorin Sezer said, “It’s kind of terrifying. It’s a lot of people.”
It’s a record-breaking year for Colorado with more people traveling by car for the holidays than ever before.
Soren Ferrell said, “A lot of people traveling at once so get ready to deal with the traffic being even worse than normal.”
Sezer and Ferrell are only going to Denver for their Christmas celebration, but still, they’re preparing for the worst.
Sezer plans on giving “ample amount of time…accounting for…accidents on the road, random little detours that we might have to take.”
McKinley said the worst days for travel on the roads are “Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week leading into the holidays, and the worst times are going to be in the morning and the evening.”
His recommendations to get to your destination in one piece are to “tap the brakes, keep the pressure low. You’re going to get to where you’re going and to get there safely you really have to stay calm.”
Aidan Ryan, marketing and communications manager for the Colorado Springs Airport said, “Our busiest times are going to be, obviously, starting tomorrow which is the 21st through about the 26th.”
To help move things along make sure you’re up to date on TSA guidelines. Something Ryan said you might want to avoid is putting wrapped presents in your luggage.
“That does hold up the lines. That’s often times why the security lines do get longer because someone is trying to bring something through that is a prohibited item.”
AAA Colorado recommends if you are driving over the holidays, especially somewhere far away, do a quick check of your battery and tires to ensure good tread and pressure before taking off.
