(WXYZ) — Thousands of travelers are set to hit the road or take to the skies for Labor Day weekend starting Thursday as the final summer holiday weekend begins.
According to AAA Michigan, Thursday, Aug. 31 will mark the first busy travel day for the holiday weekend, with peak travel expected between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on the roads.
Friday, Sept. 1 is also expected to have higher than normal traffic all day.
However, people are also taking to the skies, and AAA reports the top five domestic destinations are Seattle, Orlando, Anchorage, New York and Las Vegas.
Internationally, AAA data shows Vancouver, Rome, London, Dublin and Paris are the top five international destinations.
“Labor Day weekend will be the big sendoff to what has been an extremely busy summer travel season,” said Debbie Haas, the vice president of travel for AAA.
If you're heading out on the roads, AAA said the busiest metro Detroit highway is from Detroit to Grand Rapids along I-96, with the peak congestion period expected Saturday morning.
The Transportation Security Administration is also expected to screen more than 414 million passengers, with the busiest travel day expected to be Friday when 2.7 million passengers could be screened.
According to TSA, there have been 227.5 million passengers screened since Memorial Day weekend, and travel volumes this summer are higher than in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We anticipate this Labor Day holiday weekend will be busy, with passenger volumes nearly 11% higher than last year—volumes that already exceeded 2019 Labor Day holiday travel volumes,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske.
