Travel expected to be heavy during the Fourth of July

Gasoline prices are expected to be the highest they’ve ever been on a holiday for the upcoming weekend, but they won’t effect Iowans’ travel plans. Triple-A-Iowa spokeswoman Dawn Duffy says the motor club is predicting the July 4th weekend will be the busiest holiday weekend for travel in U.S. history. Triple-A estimates 40-point-3 million people will be traveling 50 miles or more from home this weekend, a two-point-eight percent increase from last year. Duffy says more than three-quarters of those folks will be traveling via motor vehicle. That’s about 33-point-nine million people will be on the roads, while 11-percent will fly and the rest will be going by bus, train or other mode of transportation. Duffy says gasoline prices are not frightening people into canceling their vacations. Duffy says regardless of the high costs of gas, gas prices alone don’t determine whether a trip will be taken or not. She says other factors like lodging would carry more weight. In Iowa, gasoline prices are averaging two-dollars-14 cents a gallon, up from a dollar-78 a year ago. The national average is two-22 a gallon, up from a dollar-90 a year ago.