CAMBRIDGE, Md.- For the last nine days, gas prices have been on the rise. Even still, a large number of Marylanders are expected to hit the road this Labor Day holiday weekend.
Martie Nagle and her husband set off from Scaggsville, Md., for Virginia on Friday, and left early to try and beat the traffic.
"Traffic has been fabulous, we stopped at 8:30 this morning and stopped for a quick breakfast, it's been great no problems," Nagle said.
One problem for many travelers are gas prices which are high. But Nagle said they are not high enough to keep her and her husband from hitting the road.
"If it got to $5 a gallon we would think a little bit about it, but we probably still would have come Labor Day weekend, probably not another weekend but Labor Day, yes," Nagle said.
The Maryland Transportation Authority is predicting more than 347,000 vehicles will cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge this weekend. One of those vehicles belongs to Jane Garner of Gaithersburg, Md., who said the traffic on the bridge was already getting bad at 10 a.m.
"It looked like it was getting very heavy as we were coming across, and it looked like they were getting ready to open the westbound bridge going the other way," Garner said.
LeeAnn Dean of Cambridge is staying home this weekend. She said everyone else can buy expensive gas and sit in traffic, but not her.
"They want to get this one weekend in before the beach closes and a lot of people don't travel until the Labor Day weekend just so they can do that one vacation week," Dean said. "And down here schools have started, so they want to do that last thing before the winter and it gets cold."
The MdTA is cautioning motorists that if you are traveling, do so during off-peak hours. Overall, AAA Mid-Atlantic estimates about 43 percent of Marylanders will take trips between 40 and 400 miles this weekend.
(Photo: WBOC)
