Holiday Road Trips Will Be Crowded, With Higher Gas Prices
(CBS) – It could be a bit slushy for the more than 103 million Americans who are expected to hit the roads during the holidays this year.
That's the most on record, according to AAA.
CBS 2's Mai Martinez talked to a few of those travelers.
The vast majority of those travelers -- 93.6 million people -- will be driving. And for those en route to their holiday destinations, it's not too bad an evening to be driving.
"The nice thing about the Midwest, everybody's pretty polite," traveler Luke Thayer says.
Hopefully, it stays that way, with an estimated 4.9 million people in Illinois, hitting the roads for holiday trips.
Add another 2.1 million in Indiana and things can get pretty congested out there.
Thayer and his boyfriend are heading to Michigan to visit family. Also traveling are Joseph Daniels and his girlfriend. Both couples say patience is key on holiday road trips.
One thing adding to the holiday headache: rising gas prices. OPEC production cuts announced last month delivered the largest December increase in gas prices in 6 years, according to the website GasBuddy.
"It's still cheaper than California," Thayer says.
To keep things in perspective, go back five years to 2012, when the average price for a gallon of gas in Chicago was $4.14.