Pack your patience if you are heading out for holiday travel on Wednesday.

AAA Carolinas estimates more than 1.4 million North Carolinians will be traveling more than 50 miles from home over the Thanksgiving holiday period and nearly 90 percent of them will travel by vehicle.

“That’s the largest number that we’ve seen since we’ve been doing this forecast for quite some time,” AAA Carolinas spokesperson Tiffany Wright said. “It’s going to be a ton of folks on the road, as we expect year.”

This is yet another year that AAA is projecting a record number of travelers, a trend Wright says she does not anticipate changing any time soon with the population growth that the Tar Heel State is experiencing.

“That leads to more congestion and more travelers every year,” Wright said. “I don’t expect that we’ll ever see that number go down unless something huge happens – we hit a recession or something like that – I think the number will keep climbing every year.”

In addition to congested roadways, the record number of projected travelers can expect to pay more at the pumps.

“In fact, we have the highest gas prices for the Thanksgiving holiday in three years,” Wright said. “Right now, we’re sitting at an average of $2.39 statewide, and that is 31 cents more than we spent last Thanksgiving.”

To avoid as much congestion as possible, Wright says to leave for grandma’s house on Thanksgiving Day if possible.

“Typically, Thanksgiving morning has the less volume of traffic that you’re going to see on the road,” Wright said. “We all know that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the highest volume – and that’s pretty much all day.”

Wright added traffic tends to be at its height between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

Wright says it is important to anticipate the heavy traffic and maintain safety on the roads.

“Utilize your turn signals, give drivers space and avoid road rage,” Wright said.

The travel period runs from Wednesday through Sunday.

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