As millions of Americans are expected to travel for the Fourth of July Weekend, weather and air quality concerns may affect how New Yorkers celebrate.
According to a traffic forecast from AAA, 50.7 million Americans are expected to travel for the holiday weekend. Domestic travel this year will increase by 2.1 million from 2022, and will surpass the previous record set in 2019 of 49 million travelers.
“We’ve never projected travel numbers this high for Independence Day weekend,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA travel, in a statement. “What this tells us is that despite inventory being limited and some prices 50% higher, consumers are not cutting back on travel this summer.”
An expected 43.2 million will travel by car, followed by 4.17 million by air, according to the nonprofit automobile club. An additional 3.36 million will travel by bus, cruise or train, an increase of 24 percent from 2022.
For those hitting the road to travel, gas prices have decreased greatly since last year. As of Wednesday, the national average was around $3.50 to $3.60 a gallon according to AAA. In New York, it was $3.69 a gallon.
Still, air quality across the state may impact outdoor activities during the weekend. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday issued a warning that the state is experiencing a return of unhealthy air this week as a result of ongoing wildfires in Canada.
The state departments of Environmental Conservation and Health and Hochul announced on Wednesday that every region in the state had air that was either “unhealthy” or “unhealthy for sensitive groups.”
The entire Hudson Valley and the Adirondacks were determined to be in the latter category with a maximum air quality index of 101.
Gina Mintzer, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce for Lake George, said the area is not expecting air quality to heavily impact the weekend’s…
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