Home from the Holidays: Best, Worst Times to Travel NY Highways

NEW YORK — With record numbers of travelers taking to the skies and highways, when should you time your trip home from the holidays to avoid traffic delays and aggravation?

A record number of more than 103 million Americans — 10.5 million of them from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — are expected to travel the Christmas 2016 through New Year's period, says AAA Mid-Atlantic.

The year-end holiday travel period is defined as Friday, Dec. 23, to Monday, Jan. 2, 2017. Because two holidays fall within that period, travel is often spread out. However, there will be pockets of heavy congestion.

On the back end of the holiday, Friday will be a busy travel day with people getting away for the New Year’s Eve weekend. And Monday should be another full travel day as families return home; since New Year's Day falls on Sunday, students and many employees have that day off.

There is some good news: temporary lane closures associated with road and bridge construction projects on New York State highways will not be permitted from 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Tuesday in order to accommodate motorists during the busy year-end-new-year holiday travel weekend. Some work may continue behind permanent concrete barriers or for emergency repairs.

Before hitting the road, drivers should also get plenty of sleep to avoid driving drowsy. Research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that drivers who miss just one to two hours of the recommended seven hours of sleep nearly double their risk for a crash. For long trips, drivers should travel at times when normally awake, schedule a break every two hours or every 100 miles, avoid heavy foods, travel with an alert passenger and take turns driving, and avoid medications that cause drowsiness or other impairment.

The increase in holiday travel this year is being driven by additional consumer spending, a result of improvements in the labor market and rising wage, along with low gas prices and increased consumer optimism, says AAA.

Plus having an extra day.