AAA expects almost 400,000 Connecticut residents will travel at least 50 miles or more for Memorial Day weekend activities in the coming days, joining more than 42 million Americans nationally, the organization said.
This year’s Memorial Day weekend, which typically serves as an intro to the warmer summer months, is expected to be the second busiest in Connecticut since 2000, AAA officials said, and third busiest nationally since then.Â
The organization said that Memorial Day road trips in Connecticut are expected to be up more than 6% this year, with more than 337,000 nutmeggers expected to drive to their destinations during the weekend. More than 43,500 Connecticut travelers are expected to fly to their destinations this Memorial Day, an increase of almost 9% over last year, AAA said.
Luckily, drivers nationwide and in Connecticut will experience significantly lower gas prices this year than last Memorial Day weekend. The average price of regular gas in Connecticut is about $3.60 as of May 25, according to data from AAA, vs. $4.60 last May.
Nationally, nearly 3.4 million travelers are expected to fly to their destinations, an increase of 11% over 2022. That air travel is expected to exceed pre-pandemic levels, AAA said, with this Memorial Day weekend potentially being the busiest at American airports since 2005. Memorial Day road trips are expected to be up 6% over last year, AAA said, with more than 37 million Americans expected to drive to their destinations over the weekend.
For estimates, AAA defines the Memorial Day holiday travel period as five days from Thursday, May 25 to Monday, May 29.
