Central Ohio Thanksgiving Travel Guide
NBC 4
Thanksgiving is a busy time for holiday travel, and nbc4i.com has your travel needs covered.
Related Links
TRAFFIC CAMERAS: Live Traffic Cameras
FLIGHT TRACKER: Arrivals, Departures
GAS PRICES: Find The Lowest Gas Prices
REAL-TIME TRIP ROUTING: Map Your Route
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COLUMBUS, Ohio—It’s the busiest travel day of the year and Central Ohioans are on their way.
NBC 4‘s Tom Brockman reported that according to AAA, air travel is expected to be down by 7 percent this year.
In fact, AAA predicts nearly 39 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home. That’s a one and a half percent increase over last year.
Becky Knott, like many people has her own holiday travel horror story. “Nothing to do, just want to go home,“ she says of the time she was stuck in an airport.
However, this holiday travel season started off without a hitch. Early Wednesday morning at Port Columbus, you would have had no idea it was Thanksgiving Eve. There were virtually no lines at the counter, the lines at security moved quickly and the monitors showed flights were on time across the board; not a single delay or cancellation in sight.
“I’m absolutely shocked there are not more people here already,“ said Columbus resident Roslyn Jackson, who spoke with NBC 4 as she was waiting to catch a flight to Washington D.C. to visit her son and his family. “I picked an early flight so I can go and help make Thanksgiving dinner,“ she says.
Christie Knott also booked an early flight home to New Jersey. “Later in the day the flights get delayed and things like that so we try to get an early flight so the delays wouldn’t ripple through as much,“ she says.
It wasn’t just smooth flying; it was also smooth driving on Interstate 71 north of Columbus.
NBC 4 spoke with Ian Norris and his wife while taking a break from driving to upstate New York from Kentucky to visit family. They left around 5:30 a.m. “It’s actually better so far. We were told the stretch
between Columbus and Cleveland could get pretty bad around the holidays so we’re trying to hit it pretty early.“
Airport Travel
For those Central Ohioans heading to the airport, be sure to check the nbc4i.com real-time flight tracker here.
Traveling on the ground? No major incidents were reported in the Central Ohio area Thursday morning.
Gas Prices
Be sure to check the latest gas prices to find the cheapest prices before leaving town: click here
Traffic Conditions
Need to check in on the conditions before you leave? Check the real-time traffic cameras here.
Not sure how long your trip will take with traffic and construction in the mix? No problem! Just map your route with the nbc4i.com traffic map here.
Construction Update
Don’t forget to check with the list of latest construction projects. Here’s the major project in Franklin County:
State Route 161, Licking County
SR 161, from east of Watkins Rd. to Newark, is reduced to one lane of two-way traffic and maintained by temporary traffic signals as part of the major expansion of SR 161. The work includes several road alignment changes. Traffic traveling westbound will not be able to enter/exit at the York Rd. /SR 37 interchange. The detour for SR 37 west is the newly constructed eastbound passing lane to SR 310 north back to SR 37 west. The speed limit has been reduced to 45 mph. Several county and township roads are closed along the route. Completion date: spring 2010.
Click here for the full statewide list of construction projects.
Holiday Guide
Don’t forget to check out the Holiday Guide for recipes, things to do, entertaining tips, crafts and more! click here
Holiday Travelers In Ohio Acknowledge Economy
Some Thanksgiving travelers making their way through Ohio acknowledge that the economy has been on their minds as they’ve prepared for the holiday.
Janet Lawson of Elizabethtown in western Kentucky says she and her husband decided not to spend money on air travel. She said Wednesday morning at an Interstate 75 rest area north of Cincinnati that they opted to drive to see her sister in the Detroit area, rather than fly to Minnesota and her other siblings.
Making the same rest stop, Steve Heiniger of Louisville, Ky., said the economic situation had made him more “serious.“ He says he’s very glad to have a job.
He and his family also were headed to Michigan, and were taking their time. Heiniger said they were stopping frequently because of “too much coffee.“
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
For additional information, stay with nbc4i.com and NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com—Where Accuracy Matters.
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