Friday and Monday worst days to drive on 4th of July holiday weekend, AAA says
BOSTON - If you're driving or flying this 4th of July holiday weekend be prepared for busy roads and airports.
The numbers of people traveling by car or air are expected to be higher than before the pandemic, despite higher inflation and costs for hotels and food. Storms along the East Coast caused thousands of flight delays and cancellations on Wednesday.
"We were supposed to leave at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, flight got cancelled, Delta, as a lot of other airlines, had a lot of bad weather the last three or four days, so all the flights are backed up," said Gene, who was waiting to get home to Florida from Logan Airport.
Another problem is not all planes have updated equipment to prevent interference from wireless companies boosting their 5G service on July 1. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned this could cause more delays and cancellations.
While the cost of everything seems to be up, gas is actually down about $1.50 compared to this time last year. In Massachusetts, about 1.2 million people are expected to hit the road starting Thursday.
"Thursday afternoon is going to be fairly busy, Friday during the day is going to be the worst time to depart," said Mark Schieldrop of AAA Northeast. "Worst time to come back, interestingly enough, Monday."
To help with traffic, the Boston to Quincy HOV lane on Interstate 93 will open at 2 p.m. Thursday and 1 p.m. Friday. Non-emergency road work will be restricted from 5 a.m. Friday though Wednesday, July 5.
In Boston, subway service will run on a Saturday schedule on July 4 until 3 p.m., then switch to a regular weekday schedule. Public transportation will be free after 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday. For those traveling into Boston for the fireworks Tuesday night, trains will wait at North and South Stations for a half hour after the fireworks show ends.
