The number of people taking to the road this Thanksgiving is expected to jump slightly compared to last year, when economic woes convinced many to stay home for the holidays.
AAA is anticipating 38.4 million Americans will travel farther than 50 miles during the holiday weekend, the vast majority of them by car. It would be a 1.4 percent increase over 2008’s Thanksgiving, when 37.8 million traveled.
Still, the number of holiday commuters is expected to be less than in a typical year. Between 2007 and 2008, Thanksgiving travel dropped off more than 25 percent in light of the housing and banking crises.
AAA based its projections on a survey of 1,350 households. The survey found that the number of people traveling by car will increase this Thanksgiving while fewer people will opt for air travel, even with gas prices higher than they were in 2008.
About 33.2 million people — 86 percent of all travelers — are expected travel by car this year, compared to 32.5 million last year, AAA reported. Some 2.3 million will fly, down from 2.5 million in 2008.
In Illinois, the average price of a gallon of regular is $2.70, several cents higher than the national standard. Last Thanksgiving, the average price across the country was $1.89.
But AAA officials point out that in October, when most people make their travel plans, gas was 54 cents cheaper than the same point the year before.
The expected increase in travel has not manifested everywhere in the western suburbs. It was hit or miss Wednesday morning among the half-dozen gas stations sought for comment.
Although it sits near two highways — Interstate 290 and Interstate 294 — King Gas Station along Roosevelt Road in Hillside has not seen too many people filling up, attendant Mark Bateo said Wednesday about noon.
“It was like a Sunday,” he said. “Maybe in the evening it might be busy, (but) it’s less people this year.”
It was busy at the Shell gas station along North Avenue in Lombard — though not more than any typical Wednesday, said attendant Serena Keys.
“It’s normal,” she said.
