The Fourth of July in the United States guarantees a few things: food, fireworks and travel headaches.
While officials have already called for a record summer for air travel, Americans are preparing to hit the roads, skies and rails to make their holiday plans.
In May, the Transportation Security Administration announced that the agency is expecting more passengers at airports this summer than ever before.
During the busiest days of the summer, which has always included Independence Day weekend, TSA will screen more than 2.5 million passengers per day.
The agency tasked with protecting our nation’s skies has deployed 50 more canine teams and 2,000 more officers in comparison to last year’s Fourth of July weekend to handle the rush.
Airlines for America, the industry’s leading U.S. trade group, has also forecast a record number of travelers on domestic airlines this summer; 234.1 million between June 1 and Aug. 31, to be exact.
That’s 2.54 million per day and a 4 percent growth over last summer’s 224.8 million.
According to the trade group, domestic carriers have added 123,000 seats per day for an expected 100,000 additional daily passengers.
But not all Americans are flying this holiday weekend; millions of Americans will hit the nation’s highways.
According to the navigation app Waze, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, June 30, in top metro areas is the worst window of time to leave for your weekend getaways.
On Monday, July 3, top metro areas are expected to see significant drops in traffic jams, according to the Google-owned app.
Los Angeles is expected to see a decrease in jams by 69 percent. That number for Chicago and Dallas are 75 percent and 84 percent, respectively.
Get ready for the traffic to pick back up after the fireworks. Between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Independence Day, traffic is on average three times higher than it is during a regular week day.
