Ready for a long Memorial Day weekend? If you’re heading out, you may want to look at the numbers. AAA Colorado predicts that 600,000 Coloradans will travel 50 miles or more from home during the weekend.
That’s a drop of 0.9 percent from 2012.
Wave Dreher, AAA Colorado Spokeswoman, says gas prices are most likely to blame. “Gas prices have gone up in the past couple of weeks. I think people who have had travel plan for a couple of months will not be changing their travel plans, but this might impact people who were making a last minute decision to travel,” said Dreher.
The average price for a gallon of gas in Colorado is $3.84. That compares to the national average of $3.66. Dreher says a slight decline in travel, 0.6 percent, is being predicted for the nation this holiday weekend.
But of those who will be traveling, they’re likely to go farther. Dreher says the average distance traveled by Coloradans during the Memorial Day weekend is expected to be 803 miles. That’s 126 miles more than last year. Dreher says longer road trips may be a trend seen through the summer.
Need more numbers to ponder for the long weekend?
Of the 600,000 Coloradans expected to travel this weekend, 88 percent will travel by car and 6.5 percent will travel by air.