Travel increase expected over Fourth of July holiday

AAA predicts nearly 71 million people will travel 50 or more miles away from home during the July 4 travel period

SAN ANTONIO – The Fourth of July is expected to bring millions of people out of their homes and onto the roads for holiday travel.

As the holiday celebrations get bigger, so do the gas station demands.

James Gunter, the general manager at the Flying J gas station on I-10 and Foster Rd, told KSAT he’s ready for all things holiday travel.

“We’re a 24-hour store,” Gunter said. “There’s a great demand for merchandise. This is a huge stop.”

AAA predicts nearly 71 million people will travel 50 or more miles away from home during the July 4 travel period, which is from June 29 to July 7, 2024.

It’s an expected 5% increase from 2023, with a projected 60 million people traveling by car.

“Lots of traffic,” Syndeity Ortiz said. Ortiz was stopping to get a drink at the Flying J. “We ran into pretty good traffic in Houston, actually,” she said.

“The foot traffic here has been pretty intense,” Gunter said. “We’ve definitely seen a huge spike in sales, both in hot food sales and retail sales.”

AAA has a family road trip checklist you can find here for your travel needs this Fourth of July.


About the Authors

Zaria Oates is a news reporter for KSAT 12. She joined in June 2024 from Memphis, where she worked at ABC24. Oates graduated from Clemens High School in Schertz and earned a journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma. She's passionate about learning, traveling and storytelling.

Gavin Nesbitt is a photojournalist and video editor who joined KSAT in September 2021. He has traveled across the great state of Texas to film, conduct interviews and edit many major news stories, including the White Settlement church shooting, Hurricane Hanna, 2020 presidential campaigns, Texas border coverage and the Spurs.

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