Fourth of July travel set to break record
By Associated Press
It’s going to be a busy holiday weekend on the nation’s highways.
A record 43 million Americans are expected to travel this Independence Day weekend, with the overwhelming majority driving, according to AAA, a car lobbying group and one of the nation’s largest travel agencies. This tops the joint record set last year and in 2007.
Lower gas prices, strong consumer confidence and a generally healthy domestic economy have led more families to take trips this summer.
AAA estimates that U.S. drivers have saved $20 billion on gasoline so far this year compared to the same period last year. Gas prices as of June 20 were 46 cents per gallon below prices from a year ago.
“We are well on our way for 2016 to be a record-breaking year for summertime travel,” said AAA President and CEO Marshall Doney.
Ahead of last year’s holiday, AAA predicted that 41.9 million people would travel 50 miles or more from home during the weekend. AAA has since revised that number to say that 42.3 million people actually traveled. This year’s estimate — the highest since AAA started tracking in 2001 — is for 42.9 million travelers with 84 percent of them driving.
The holiday travel period is defined as June 30 to July 4.
The number of travelers is estimated to be 10.7 percent higher than the average number during the past 15 years.
To celebrate gridlock, SLT will close the main road through Tahoe on Saturday. Hooray for gridlock!
There has to be a way to limit cars into the basin. This is a special area and is being abused! The exponential growth of tourists is destroying the quality for everyone. This is 2016, when are we going to have a train from Sacramento up here, a mandatory one when numbers are this crazy. IF THERE were a fire God help us all. Or perhaps roasting the poor locals is the idea?
I think a review of the data would suggest that visitation is well below peak levels. Visitors may be increasing over last year but below the year 2000 which saw the highest number of visitors. Check the traffic data from TRPA it will conform the trend.
Probably why the ‘City’ has set themselves up at the airport.
‘They’ can get the hell out of Dodge if need be.
The 2000 traffic data was before the Indian gaming explosion. More traffic on the Ca. side now than in the past. 70 Indian casino’s in CA.now, there were zero back in the 80s. Our town will be better off in the long run, but more tourist will come.
Since 2000 the state population has increased 18% to 39.1m. During the same time (peak month) traffic counts measured at Ski Run are down 17%. Hard to see South Shore ever getting back to that level of traffic.
We really don’t need the loop road do we. Traffic counts down at ski run and stateline and up at the Y.
I think we do you think we don’t. I’ll leave it at that.
Hmmm. I wonder about the Ski Run counts. More and more people are using GPS and Pioneer Trail.
There are three kinds of lies, lies, damned lies and statistics.”
Mark Twain
“Numbers do not lie but people that lie use numbers.” Herman Cain
The Loop road is long overdue and necessary plus will be a huge improvement to our region and make everyone safer in that area. City Resident is right, we have a loop road, that is dilapidated, unsafe for pedestrians, especially Montreal and Chonokis and people definitely speed in the area.
Passion- The same trend is in evidence if you take the counts coming into Meyers.
I disagree that the Loop Road realignment is unnecessary and I believe that roadway will be beneficial in the near term and even more importantly in the more distant future (15-30 years out for example). One of the functions and responsibilities of government officials is to anticipate the near, mid, and long term needs of communities along with developing preparations for the future. Needs cannot be ignored and to not plan and to not prepare for the future is shortsighted and irresponsible.
An unfortunate example of not anticipating and planning for the future is evidenced by the condition of SLTs neighborhood streets. The majority of this community’s longtime ago elected Council members ignored the City’s disintegrating neighborhood streets and never bothered to develop a comprehensive plan to address that huge infrastructure need. The “Core Values” upon which the City was incorporated were snow removal, police, and fire but apparently infrastructure maintenance was not one of those Core Values. Now, more than 50-years after SLT became a City the current City Council and City staff are trying to develop a plan that will make it possible to pay for that neglected road work which needs doing in the near, mid, and out in to the long term.
I believe in the importance of anticipating and planning, whether that’s for the Loop Road which will provide enhanced traffic flow, reduced exhaust emissions, and aesthetic and environmental improvements; or for the City’s miniscule sales tax increase that will provide newer, safer neighborhood roads along with important environment improvements. It is my hope that SLTs voters this November will determine that they want an improved community and will vote accordingly for something better for themselves and for their children. They deserve to have better. But that’s just my opinion.
Snow removal, police and fire are the very first things needed for ‘survival’ in this elevated location!
Predicting the future for 50yrs out is impossible and YOU are not going to live that long soo another type plan need be considered.
‘Sprawl’ should NOT be one of the plans…my opinion only;)~
Robin Smith:
There is a difference between “predicting” and “anticipating”. For example with no maintenance performed on a roadway, while it cannot be “predicted” 50-years out into the future the day that the road will fail, it can certainly be “anticipated” that the road will fail. If one wants to prosper versus just survive those are the types of situations for which you must plan. It’s exercising some proactive control versus just reacting; it’s why people go to the doctor for wellness purposes versus only when their sick; and it’s why people plan for retirement. There is enough in life that sneaks up on us and to not anticipate and plan for what we can is like being a rudderless boat.
I disagree that the Loop Road is “sprawl” and I disagree that not making allowances to more safely and efficiently move traffic through a very high density pedestrian area is going to stop people from coming to SLT in the future. And you’re right, I won’t live another 50-years–but neither will you.
You never answered my question if you were a teacher.
A study by EDAWN predicts that the Reno Region will add another !00,000 people in less than four years. They also say the Region be the size of Houston Texas in 20 years. If anyone thinks the growth of Northern Nevada isn’t going to affect us here in Tahoe, then your head is buried in the sand. I don’t want to play catch up with infrastructure, that’s all they do in the Bay Area.
Del Webb was to build a ‘Sun City’ north of Reno years ago. He declared that the area would not support, in the future, the water needs of the projected population growth.
Therefore the ‘project’ did not happen.
The only way northern Nevada could have enough water to support populations mentioned above would they would have to desalt ocean water and pipe it over to Nevada. The residents in Reno have been on watering restrictions for years with no end in sight.