Memorial Day Weekend

This time last year, we saw a huge drop in travel over Memorial Day weekend, as a result of the recession. But this year, AAA Texas is predicting to see a major increase in holiday travel.

“About 2.53 million people who will be on the highways, the roads, in air ports or some form of transportation," said AAA Texas Spokesman Don Ronan.

Ronan said it’s an increase of more than 3% from 2009.

“The economy is improving. People are excited about the possibility of going on trips. The travel industry has done a great job in terms of discounting hotel rooms, and other areas of the travel industry, which had not been to get people to encourage them to come out," he said.

He also said it has to do with gas prices coming down.

“They [gas prices] are pretty steady,” he said.

The Texas Department of Public Safety is already gearing up for the busy holiday.

“All available troopers are on the highways,” said DPS Spokeswoman Trooper Shanna Malone. “We will be looking for unsafe driving practices; we will be of course looking for speeders and those that are not properly secured in the vehicle."

Malone said everyone that drinks needs to have a designated driver.