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Travel Expectations for Fourth of July Weekend

Posted at 8:49 AM, Jul 03, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-03 08:49:43-04

This Independence Day is expected to set new travel records, according to AAA.

They project that more Americans will travel for the Fourth of July this year than ever before.

Predictions show that 42.4 million people will travel at least 50 miles away from home, which is a 2.9 percent increase from last year.

Because this holiday falls on a Tuesday this year, travelers have an extra long weekend to celebrate.

"This year, I'm expecting more visitors simply because the state of Florida continues to grow every year with people moving down here permanently, but you can only imagine that when you have a holiday and everyone is out of school, everyone loves to come to Florida because our weather is great, this is where grandparents live and there's no better place to visit so of course we're going to expect an uptick in traffic," said Ken Watson with Florida Highway Patrol in Charlotte County.

However, not all residents seem concerned about this many travelers.

Most residents we spoke with haven't seen a lot of people traveling or are not concerned with the possible traffic for July Fourth.

Local authorities and business owners, however, are still making sure they're prepared with plenty of security and police directing traffic and keeping everyone safe for the holiday.