DMV travelers hit the road for Memorial Day weekend

MANASSAS, Va. ( DC News Now ) — Travelers from around the DMV hit the roadways on Friday to start their Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Hundreds of thousands of travelers are expected to hit the area’s bridges, highways, interstates and roadways — whether they are coming to or heading away from their homes.

Those like Joe Foley and his wife, who were commuting from Wilmington, Delaware, to a vacation home near Charlottesville, Virginia, said they left home early to beat the heavy traffic.

“As far as the commute goes, fingers crossed, it’s been going OK so far,” Foley said. “We haven’t had any real traffic like they’ve been talking about. It used to be a little dicey for I-66 with the construction, but now that that’s done, it’s pretty straightforward and we’ve kinda got a routine.”

At least 38.4 million people are expected to hit the roads this weekend across the country, according to AAA. That’s up from 4 percent from last year, officials said.

“Yeah, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was,” said Franklin Crawford.

Crawford left work early on Friday to start on the trip that he and his significant other were making from New Carrollton, Md. to Staunton, Va.

“We left like about 11:30, you know, if we left a little later, it wouldn’t been bumper to bumper, especially coming through Northern Virginia,” he said.

Crawford said he expects a tougher commute home on Monday.

“We usually leave about 8 or 9 in the morning,” he said.

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