Travelers Brave Airports & Train Stations, Hit Gridlock on Local Roads

CHICAGO (AP /1010 WINS)  -- Millions of Americans got an early jump on their Thanksgiving travel Wednesday, with many opting to drive or take trains and buses instead of shelling out more money for flights amid a sour economy still hitting household budgets hard.


Steve Sandberg reports

However, motorists using the New Jersey Turnpike have found slow going as workday commuters and holiday travelers clogged the highway late in the afternoon.

By late afternoon, the New Jersey DOT Web site reported an 18-mile backup northbound from the Mount Holly interchange to Exit 8 in Robbinsville and a 13-mile delay southbound below Exit 9 in the New Brunswick area.

Increasing congestion also was reported on major North Jersey highways, including the Garden State Parkway, I-287, I-78 and Route 17, as commuters joined holiday travelers.

Newark Liberty International Airport reported delays of more than an hour on some incoming flights.

AAA says nearly 800,000 New Jerseyans will travel more than 50 miles over the holiday weekend -- down nearly 5 percent from last year.

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At Penn Station, sisters Emily and Katie Jacobs ate breakfast and drank coffee at they waited for their train to Atlantic City, N.J.

Emily Jacobs, 26, said they decided on Amtrak after considering "traffic on the roads, getting out of the city, and then the New Jersey Turnpike ... might as well bypass all that.''

The cost of flying was another deterrent, Emily Jacobs said, since "ticket prices for planes were insane'' already and the surcharges for holiday airfare were even more discouraging.

Airlines had been depending on holiday travelers more than usual because travel has been so weak the rest of the year, said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Hunter Keay. The AAA predicts there will be a 6.7 percent decrease in air travelers this holiday compared with last year.

Many Americans are forgoing air travel for Thanksgiving and opting for cheaper alternatives because of economic pressures. Others are staying home completely -- partly to avoid traffic and airport lines, partly to save a buck.

Thanksgiving travel plummeted 25 percent between 2007 and 2008, and many of those habits seem to be sticking this year. The number of people traveling is likely to inch up only by about 1.4 percent, according to an AAA prediction based on a survey of 1,300 households.