What Time Should You Hit the Road to Avoid Holiday Weekend Traffic?

If you’re planning on heading out of town for Labor Day weekend, you’re not going to be alone on the road. Millions are expected to be hitting the roads this holiday weekend.

Lower gasoline prices, higher disposable income, and a stronger job market are combining to deliver the highest number of Labor Day travelers nationwide since 2008, according to AAA Northeast.

AAA officials say they expects 35.5 million Americans to trek 50 miles or more from home--an increase of just over 1 percent from the 35 million people who traveled over Labor Day last year.

Lower gasoline prices are prompting the majority of travelers to hit the road, with almost 86 percent of those traveling, more than 30 million people across the country, taking their trips by car—an increase of 1.1 percent over last year.

MassDOT typically encourages travelers to plan ahead and travel safely during the Labor Day holiday weekend. Drivers are encouraged to make travel plans accordingly and if possible avoid peak traffic volumes between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. on those days.

The heaviest Labor Day traffic on Interstate 90 is expected on Thursday and Friday westbound, and Monday afternoon and evening, heading east. The number of toll transactions on the Turnpike from Weston to the New York border on the Friday before Labor Day is typically among the 10 busiest days of the year on the Western Turnpike.

Traffic in Massachusetts is especially heavy at the I-84 interchange at Exit 9 in Sturbridge on the Friday of Labor Day weekend and at Exit 11A, I-495, which handles cars headed south to Cape Cod and north to New Hampshire and Maine. Travelers to the Cape this year have access to real time roadside traffic information through the newly launched GO Timesystem. To plan ahead, traffic information is available for download using the free RideWise Smartphone App that provides live traffic conditions.

MassDOT Traveler Resources:

• Real-Time Traffic Conditions
• Live Traffic Cameras
• Traffic Maps
• Emergency Roadside Assistance
• Travel Service Plazas & Tourist Information Centers
• Printable Toll Schedules for I-90

CapeFLYER trains run from Boston to Cape Cod through Labor Day Monday.

The projected increase in travel numbers comes despite the fact that when Labor Day falls later in the calendar as it does this year, Americans have historically shown less inclination to travel.

AAA expects that the lowest gasoline prices for late August in more than a decade in Massachusetts will spur a significant amount of last-minute travel, and the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce reports that last year, 46 percent of Cape summer tourists who were surveyed made no advance plans.

According to Monday’s AAA Northeast survey, regular, unleaded gas prices are $1.10 lower than at this time last year in Massachusetts — a welcome gift for Labor Day motorists celebrating the unofficial end of summer by getting behind the wheel.

By LIZ TAURASI (Patch Staff), contributed to this story.