Vacationers urged to be affected person, courteous throughout Thanksgiving vacation visitors – St George Information

NS. GEORGE – Thanksgiving holiday trips appear to be recovering to pre-pandemic levels, according to recent AAA predictions. This has led AAA officials as well as state road and law enforcement agencies to urge travelers on the road and in the air to be patient, prepared and courteous as highways and airports are crowded.

I-15 north via St. George, Utah, November 12, 2021 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

According to a press release from the AAA, travel is expected to have increased 13% from 2020 onwards. The reasons for this are the continued relaxation of certain travel restrictions and the return of consumer confidence.

“Travel volume has recovered to within 5% of pre-pandemic levels and air traffic has recovered almost entirely from its dramatic year-over-year decline,” said Aldo Vazquez, spokesman for AAA Utah. “Those traveling this Thanksgiving can expect to find more crowded streets and airports than they have seen in a while.”

AAA predicts that up to 53.4 million people will travel for Thanksgiving this year, up from 47.1 million in 2020. The prepandemic number in 2019 was 56 million. This year, the vast majority of travelers – 48.8 million – will travel by car, 4.2 million by plane, and the rest by bus, train or cruise, according to data from the AAA.

With 6.4 million more people traveling on Thanksgiving and the recent opening of US borders to fully vaccinated international travelers, prepare for streets and airports to get significantly more crowded.

“Just be patient, be prepared, and be courteous,” said Sgt. Preston Price of the Arizona Department of Public Safety said. Especially when travelers are on vacation on the Arizona stretch of Interstate 15. “We definitely expect a lot more traffic through the area for the holidays,” Price said.

Table courtesy of AAA Utah, St. George News | click to enlarge

Both north and south traffic between miles 8 and 9 in Arizona are already affected by the bridge work there. Drive through the construction site was restricted to a single lane with a speed limit of 45 miles per hour. While this can cause congestion and delays on a normal day, holiday traffic is expected to make these conditions worse.

To keep traffic as smooth as possible, according to the Arizona DPS, Price is putting additional soldiers on duty to oversee the situation and respond to any incidents that occur during the holiday and the resulting weekend.

The Utah Department of Transportation also urged drivers to be patient and courteous while driving and to plan ahead of any problems that may arise while driving, said Kevin Kitchen, UDOT spokesman for Region 4, which covers the Southwest of Utah covers.

UDOT expects there will be delays of at least 10 minutes northbound in the Nephi area on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving on I-15 between 5pm and 8pm, he said.

A family at Thanksgiving dinner | Photo by Choreographer / iStock / Getty Images Plus, St. George News

The exceptionally heavy traffic is not expected to reach southern Utah until Sunday between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. on I-15 south through Cedar City, Kitchen said, adding that this is expected to result in 20-minute delays on the road through the area .

Return traffic for Thanksgiving has traditionally been heavy and prone to a handful of crashes along the way. Rear-end collisions are common in these accidents.

Drivers are advised to be patient in traffic jams and not to get too close to the car in front.

One area in Washington County that people should also watch out for is on State Route 9 near Quail Lake Estates, Kitchen said.

That area is getting a traffic light, and while Kitchen said he wasn’t sure whether or not it will be operational by Thanksgiving, it will change the traffic pattern that motorists will need to watch out for.

In general, Kitchen also recommends that travelers have an emergency car kit on hand in case they get stuck on the motorway in an emergency for several hours or are caught in bad weather.

Tips from the AAA

Whether you plan to do this by car or by plane, knowing how to find your way around the new travel landscape is important to avoid unnecessary stress and challenges on the way to your Thanksgiving destination:

• Be proactive. Book flights, rental cars, accommodations and other activities as early as possible.
• Be patient. The streets and airports will be busy so plan ahead. For domestic flights, AAA recommends arriving at the airport two hours before departure and three hours before departure time. Wednesday afternoon is the busiest on the streets.
• Be prepared. Make sure you and your vehicle are ready for a road trip. AAA expects to serve over 400,000 members over the holiday weekend. Look at the AAA Utahs Checklist for less stress prepare.
• Be protected. AAAs COVID-19 Travel Restrictions Card and TripTik.AAA.com are helpful resources that travelers can use for free to understand closings, recommendations, and requirements when traveling to the United States. Also, be sure to have masks handy as these are still required in many places.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

Mori Kessler is Senior Reporter for St. George News, having served as a writer and interim editor from 2011-12 and as assistant editor from 2012 to mid-2014. He began freelancing news for Today in Dixie in 2009 and joined the St. George News writing team in mid-2010. He enjoys photography and won a photojournalism award from the Society of Professional Journalists for a 2018 photo of a bee inspector removing wild bees from a Washington City home. He’s also a shameless nerd and has a poor sense of direction.