Record number of travelers to hit U.S. roads for July 4 weekend, AAA says

People wait in line at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, ahead of Fourth of July weekend, July 1, 2021. TSA has said it hopes to hire 6,000 new officers to handle the summer travel boost. It has resorted to offering recruitment incentives such as $1,000 to officers who accept employment with the agency. (Shafkat Anowar/AP)

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	Traffic is seen along the Strip on Memorial Day in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., May 31, 2021. (REUTERS/Bridget Bennett/File Photo/File Photo)
	Record number of travelers to hit U.S. roads for July 4 weekend, AAA says reuters.com (Reuters) - A record 42 million people around the United States are expected to hit the road for trips over the July 4 Independence Day weekend, AAA said Tuesday, absorbing historically high fuel costs to crowd the highways. The average U.S. retail price of gasoline recently broke through $5 per gallon for the first time in history. While that is not a record from an inflation-adjusted basis, it still represents an increase of nearly $2 per gallon from a year earlier. Despite the higher cost, gasoline demand is only 1% below the average for this time of year in the United States. The 42 million figure, should it pan out, would surpass 2019's peak, when 41.5 million people traveled by vehicle on Independence Day, according to the American Automobile Association. Including air travel, 47.9 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home during the holiday period, just 2% less than 2019's 49 million, but surpassing 2021's levels, the travel membership organization said. “The volume of travelers we expect to see over Independence Day is a definite sign that summer travel is kicking into high gear,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel. “Earlier this year, we started seeing the demand for travel increase and it’s not tapering off." Through April, cumulative vehicle miles traveled for 2022 totals 1.017 trillion vehicle miles, a rate that trails only 2019 and 2018 in terms of pace, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting By David Gaffen; Editing by David Gregorio Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.