Travel conditions ahead of the winter holiday season

LUDLOW, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) – As this holiday weekend comes to an end, were taking a look at how traffic conditions are shaping up for the winter holiday season ahead.

Despite the busy highway traffic today, experts are predicting that less drivers will be hitting the roads this upcoming holiday season.

“We’ve ran into multiple spots of not moving and horrible traffic and on the other side of the highway we saw they were just stopped they weren’t even going,” said Jaidevde.

Heavy traffic on the roads Monday, as drivers headed back home following a long Columbus Day weekend.

“Probably about half an hour in like maybe 15 minutes since we hit I-90 there was a like a pretty long jam going west mainly because there was a lane closure,” noted Timofey.

Western Mass News caught up with one traveler headed to Troy, New York. He told us he wasn’t anticipating Monday’s long traffic delays.

“It’s a holiday weekend so it’s go be expected but it’s definitely worse than I thought it would be,” expressed Jaidevde.

While conditions were busy this holiday weekend, travel experts say they aren’t expecting any major delays on the roads for the upcoming holiday season.

“The U.S. economy has slowed down we have seen some layoffs although we have avoided recession so far, the economic slowdown is likely behind why fewer Americans will hit the road this Thanksgiving and Christmas as well and that’s a trend that will probably continue into the new year,” added Patrick de Haan.

However, if you are planning on driving to your holiday destination, you may be in luck for another reason as well.

“It probably will be the cheapest holiday season when it comes to filling your tank since 2021,” explained Patrick de Haan. “Again, as we kind of navigated the pandemic and Russia war in Ukraine things are finally getting closer back to what many Americans consider normal and I think for this holiday season were probably going to be the most normal we’ve seen at the pump in the last few years.”

If you plan on traveling by plane this holiday season, there’s some good news.

De Haan said airfare prices are expected to be moderately lower compared to what they were last year.

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