Record number of travelers expected in NY-area this Memorial Day weekend on roads and in the sky

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — As the Memorial Day Weekend approaches you can expect congestion on the roads and at local airports.

The Port Authority is expecting more than 4 million people at its bridges and tunnels during this travel period, and more than 2 million people at its airports.

If you are going to Newark and planning to take New Jersey Transit, you may want to rethink that on Thursday due to some delay issues.

It wasn’t too busy yet at Terminal B in LaGuardia Airport, but it was more crowded than you would see on a typical Thursday morning.

The lines at security said 10 minutes, but the queue snakes around three or four times.

So, you’re going to just want to keep that in mind if you are heading here today.

But according to the Port Authority, 6.4 million people will be coming through both airports, bridges and tunnels.

That accounts for flying and driving into and out of the New York area during the six day travel peak, which is Thursday through Tuesday.

4.2 million will be driving, which is actually consistent to last year, but it’s about 2.2 million that it will be flying, which is a 2% increase from the record that we broke this time last year.

The Port Authority held a news conference Wednesday ahead of this weekend.

“We have stopped all non-emergency construction at all of our Hudson River crossings. We will be providing enhanced staff at all of our facilities, from path stations to the crossings to the airports,” said Rick Cotton, Executive Director, Port Authority.

If you are driving the worst times with the most congestion that they are expecting is Thursday between noon and 6 p.m., people leaving work early, trying to hit the road.

But you will hit traffic as well Friday, also between noon and 7 p.m., you’ll see the most amount of cars on the road, but that’s to be expected.

If you are flying, though, the Port Authority is urging people to take public transportation if you have the option to do so, pre-book your parking, and arrive a little bit earlier than you may for a typical weekend trip.

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