Holiday travel on Pennsylvania Turnpike expected to jump by 40% over last year
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Officials predict more than 5.4 million motorists will take to the Pennsylvania Turnpike between the 2021 Christmas and 2022 New Year’s Day holidays, approaching pre-pandemic travel figures.
“Our holiday traffic projections are coming close to matching those of 2019 with an increase of 40% over last year,” PA Turnpike CEO Mark Compton said of this year’s 11-day holiday period.
The estimate for the similar period that included Christmas 2019 and New Year’s Day 2020 was about 6.6 million motorists.
This year, the heaviest turnpike traffic is anticipated today, when about 650,000 travelers are expected on the toll road.
The next busiest days are predicted for midweek between the two holidays: 625,000 motorists each Dec. 29 and 30 and 600,000 on Dec. 28.
Projections call for 460,000 turnpike motorists on New Year’s Eve, 450,000 on Christmas Eve and 425,000 each on Dec. 27 and Jan. 2.
It’s estimated there will be 405,000 traveling on the turnpike Christmas Day, 375,000 on the following day and 350,000 on New Year’s Day.
Turnpike officials encouraged motorists to make use of roadway information available at 511PA.com, which has been updated.
“We encourage travelers to prepare by finding our real-time traffic and roadway conditions online and allowing plenty of time to get safely to their destination,” Compton said.
Motorists can use the 511 site to set up personalized travel alerts for specific roadways, days of the week and times of the day. A new feature allows users to select only the types of alerts they want to receive — from such categories as incidents, roadwork, general travel information, travel restrictions and weather-related alerts.
To check on speed and vehicle restrictions or road closures, travelers can use an email or mobile phone number without creating an account.
The 511PA mobile app allows drivers to specify a vehicle type — commercial or passenger vehicle — when checking on traffic restrictions. The app also can be used to locate electric vehicle charging stations.