Memorial Day 2018: Best, Worst Times To Be On The Road

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A record-high number of Maryland residents will be traveling for the Memorial Day holiday this week, AAA Mid-Atlantic projects. Nearly 890,000 Marylanders will get away between May 24 and 28, a 4.7 percent increase over last year, and the highest number of Memorial Day weekend travelers since 2001. As with Americans across the country, Marylanders are being motivated to travel thanks to a stronger economy and growing consumer confidence.

This year’s forecast is the fourth consecutive year Maryland’s travel volume is expected to top 800,000 and reveals new record highs for auto and air travel for the holiday. To avoid big traffic jams heading to the Eastern Shore, you should be on the road before Thursday morning, state highway officials say.

“Our forecast shows that more Marylanders than ever will be getting away for the holiday weekend and this year, they will be taking to the roads and the skies in record numbers to get to their destination,” said Ragina Cooper Averella, manager of public and government affairs at AAA Mid-Atlantic.

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"Ponder the magnitude of it all. Memorial Day holiday travel volume in the Washington metro area will be 41 percent higher than it was in the region during 2009, which represented the recession driven low," said John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic's manager of public and government affairs. "Compounding matters, depending upon the day and time they hit the road, some metro area travelers could face delays of 2.3 times to 3.5 times the normal trip."

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Driving to Eastern Shore

If you plan to spend your Memorial Day weekend on the Eastern Shore, call 511 to get real-time traffic details east of the Bay Bridge and, when leaving the shore, points west to the bridge to avoid the worst of the Memorial Day weekend traffic.

You should travel off-peak when heading to and from the Eastern Shore to avoid major traffic delays. The best times to travel the Bay Bridge this weekend are:

• Thursday/Friday – before 10 a.m. and after 10 p.m.
• Saturday – before 7 a.m. and after 5 p.m.
• Sunday/Monday – before 10 a.m. and after 10 p.m.

Check traffic conditions before you hit the road:

• Call 1-877-BAYSPAN (1-877-229-7726) for 24/7 Bay Bridge traffic conditions.
• Visit baybridge.com to view traffic cameras and to sign up for email alerts.
• Follow the MDTA at twitter.com/TheMDTA and facebook.com/TheMDTA.
• Ease your travel with E-ZPass. Visit ezpassmd.com to enroll online and for a list of E-ZPass "On the Go" retail locations.
• Know Before You Go - To view traffic cameras on MDTA roadways, visit mdta.maryland.gov. Call 511 or visit MD511.org for statewide travel information. When you call 511, just say "Reach the Beach." The free phone call can eliminate some of the hassle of your road trip.

Toll Facilities

MDTA officials anticipate the following number of vehicles to travel its toll facilities between Friday, May 25, and Monday, May 28:

• Bay Bridge (US 50/301) – more than 348,000.
• John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway (I-95) – more than 464,000.
• Fort McHenry Tunnel (I-95) – more than 488,000.
• An additional 587,000 vehicles are projected to travel the Francis Scott Key Bridge (I-695), the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel (I-895), the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge (US 40) and the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge (US 301) combined. All totals represent traffic in both directions.

By the Numbers: Memorial Day 2018 Travel Forecast

• This year will be the fourth straight year of travel growth in Maryland
• Automobiles: More than 793,000 Maryland residents will drive to their destinations, 4.6 percent more that last year.
• Airplanes: 71,000 Maryland residents will take to the skies, 7.4 percent more than last year.
• Trains, Buses, Rails and Cruise Ships: About 25,000 residents will travel by other means.

Expect High Gas Prices

As of Monday, Maryland’s average price was $2.92 per gallon, 5 cents higher than last week, up 17 cents from last month and 57 cents more than last year on this date. Last year on Memorial Day, the average price for regular gasoline in Maryland was $2.39 per gallon, while for the 2014 holiday the state average was $3.66 per gallon.

While Maryland’s average is 9 cents away from the $3 per gallon mark, AAA does not anticipate prices to reach the levels seen back in 2014,” added Averella.

Travelers will pay the most expensive Memorial Day gas prices since 2014. AAA Mid-Atlantic attributes the sharp price increase to expensive crude oil, record gasoline demand and shrinking global supply. But given the busy travel forecast, these higher prices aren't going to deter people from traveling.

Image via Shutterstock