SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — About 71 million people are expected to travel for the Fourth of July, potentially setting a new record for the U.S. In the Salt Lake City, Utah area, rental car usage is already on the rise.
AAA predicts that 70.9 million people will travel over the nine-day period spanning two weekends, from June 29 to July 7. Fourth of July travel is typically limited to just one weekend.
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“With summer vacation in full swing and greater flexibility in remote work, more Americans are taking longer trips around the Fourth of July,” Paula Twidale, senior vice president at AAA Travel, said in a news release.
“We expect this Fourth of July week to be our busiest ever, with 5.7 million more visitors than in 2019,” she added.
More than 60 million travelers are expected to hit the road and drive at least 50 miles to their holiday destinations, breaking the record set in 2019, when 55.3 million people traveled by car for Independence Day celebrations.
Salt Lake City is one of the cities seeing the highest demand for car rentals ahead of the holidays, according to rental car company Hertz, with other cities seeing high rental demand including Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The increase in road traffic is being driven by lower gasoline prices: The average price of gas in Salt Lake City is about $3.49 a gallon, about 50 cents lower than last summer, according to the website GasBuddy, a trend seen across the country.
According to traffic data provider INRIX, the busiest travel times for drivers are likely to be Wednesday, July 3, and Sunday, July 7. On July 4 itself, the busiest times are expected to be between 2pm and 7pm.
“Holiday drives could take up to 67 percent longer than usual,” INRIX transportation analyst Bob Pichoux said in a statement. “Travelers should monitor 511 services, local news stations and traffic apps for the latest road conditions.”
A record number of travelers are expected to fly during the holidays, with AAA predicting that 5.7 million people will fly, up 12% from 2019. Travelers should expect busy airports and arrive early to make it to their flight, AAA advises.
However, Salt Lake City International Airport is not expecting record numbers of travelers over the Independence Day holiday, airport spokesperson Nancy Vollmer told ABC4.com, noting that this time of year is “not typically our busiest time of year for travelers.”
Besides driving and flying, 4.6 million people are expected to travel the country by other means, including trains, buses and cruises. AAA noted that cruises, which are popular in Alaska during this time of year, have rebounded significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic began.