This Memorial Day Weekend is shaping up to be a busy one for travel in Colorado — especially for the mountain resort region.
Nearly 44 million travelers nationwide are leaving town for the unofficial start of summer, an increase of 4% over travel this time last year, according to AAA. That is the second-highest Memorial Day travel forecast since AAA began tracking in 2000, the association's Colorado spokesperson Skyler McKinley said.
"We've got very good news packed into these travel forecasts," McKinley said. "Because, fundamentally, a traveling forecast is an economic forecast."
Nationwide, road trips are expected to set a record, with AAA projecting 38.4 million people will travel by car over the Memorial Day Weekend. Drivers can reportedly expect similar gas prices as last year when then the national average was $3.57.
Denver International Airport has meanwhile announced that it is bracing for a record number of travelers this holiday weekend, with some 450,000 passengers forecasted to travel between Thursday, May 23, and Tuesday, May 28, a 9% increase in travelers over the same holiday last year.
Denver is also displaying the second-highest rental car demand of any market in the country ahead of the holiday weekend, according to AAA car rental partner Hertz. So Colorado drivers
should be prepared to see lots of red rental plates heading up to the mountains on Interstate 70 this weekend, McKinley said.
Memorial Day Weekend drivers can expect similar gas prices to last year when the national average was roughly $3.57 per gallon, according to AAA. Despite these "relatively high prices,"
McKinley said gas costs do not seem to have discouraged travel at all.
Still, gas will be more expensive in mountain communities where there is less competition, so drivers should fuel up in the city before heading up to the mountains, McKinley said. In Summit County, gas is averaging about $3.52 per gallon, while in Eagle County it is averaging $3.64 per gallon, he said. In Routt County that jumps to $3.70 per gallon, and in Pitkin County gas is averaging a whopping $4.80 per gallon.
The weather forecast for this weekend includes a mix of sun and clouds with some potential for afternoon showers. Traffic patterns on Interstate 70 mountain corridor tend to be predictable so some advance planning could save travelers hours on the roads, according to the nonprofit I-70 Coalition.
Based on historical data, the coalition estimates that those traveling westbound on Friday should plan for traffic to begin as early as 11 a.m. and to end by about 8:30 p.m., while eastbound drivers should expect moderate traffic in the afternoon but no significant delays.
On Saturday, westbound drivers should expect moderate traffic to begin around 8:30 a.m. and to last through about 5 p.m., with the heaviest traffic occurring from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Last year, there were delays of about 30 minutes between Colorado Highway 470 and Silverthorne.
On Sunday, traffic volume headed westbound will build around 11 a.m. and last through 1:30 p.m. but only minimal delays have been recorded in the past three years. Eastbound traffic could start to build by 11:30 a.m. and abate soon after 6 p.m. Sunday.
On Monday, the traffic pattern will mimic a typical Sunday but with even higher volumes of vehicles headed eastbound back toward Denver. To avoid delays, it is recommended travelers
leave before 10:30 a.m. or after 8 p.m. Peak travel times will be from noon to 4 p.m. when there will be an estimated extra 45 minutes of travel.
Ultimately, McKinley said, the travel industry in Colorado continues to draw visitors from far and wide.
"The pandemic did something really good for travel," he said. "It made people much more likely to seek out open spaces like Colorado and like the American West."