Many scale back their travel plans
Published: Fri, Aug. 29, 2008 12:30AM
Modified Fri, Aug. 29, 2008 08:47AM
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closeGasoline prices are still falling, but AAA Carolinas says many North Carolinians will skip the usual Labor Day weekend trip this year.
Triangle drivers were paying an average $3.608 a gallon for regular Thursday, and some Raleigh stations posted pump prices below $3.45. Even though prices have dropped from a local record high of $4.054 in mid-July, this year's Labor Day gas is the most expensive on record.
A beach drive this weekend will cost even more than it did three years ago, when Hurricane Katrina disrupted the nation's fuel supplies and made Labor Day 2005 travel extra pricey.
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AAA Carolinas estimates that 720,300 North Carolinians will drive more than 100 miles round-trip for the holiday weekend this year, down almost 1 percent from last year's Labor Day.
About 144,000 will take Labor Day weekend trips by air, down 3.7 percent from last year.
State troopers will beef up patrols to catch speeders and aggressive drivers this weekend. Speed was blamed for a big share of the 1,189 crashes, 584 injuries and 19 deaths investigated by the Highway Patrol during Labor Day weekend 2007.
The state Department of Transportation said most road construction work will be suspended to make way for holiday travel, with one big exception: Interstate 85 continues to be squeezed into a single lane in each direction for six miles in Vance County, from mile marker 214 near U.S. 158 to mile marker 208 near the Granville County line.
Travelers can call 511 for traffic updates from NCDOT.
bruce.siceloff@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4527
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