Expect to pay more to fill your tank and expect more law enforcement on the road. Neither trend will keep people from traveling.
By MATTHEW WAITE
Published May 23, 2003
[Times photos: Bill Serne]
Rachael and Giovani Ortega rest during a layover at Tampa International Airport.
Frank Major and his bomb-sniffing dog, Apollo, walk through a departure area at Tampa International Airport. Major said that with a heightened security alert level, they are more visible to the public.
If the price of gas at the corner gas station jumped a dime between the evening commute and the morning drive, don't worry: You're not crazy.
It's Memorial Day weekend.
"It happens almost like clockwork," said Gregg Laskowski, a AAA spokesman.
AAA estimates that 1.54-million Floridians will hit the road this weekend - one of the busiest driving holidays of the year - and everyone from gas station owners to law enforcement officers are gearing up.
While gas prices are still below recent highs, they do inch up just before Memorial Day weekend, Laskowski said. But, he said, that won't keep a lot of people from traveling.
"Florida is still the top travel destination in the United States," he said.
According to AAA numbers, you should gas up before you go. The Tampa Bay area, compared with other major metro areas in Florida, has the second-cheapest gas on average at $1.42 a gallon for regular. West Palm Beach is the most expensive at $1.57 a gallon.
Nationwide, the number of travelers will be just slightly up from the year before, Laskowski said, with estimates of a 10th of a percent increase in traffic or 29.4-million people on the roads. Florida will see a 0.8 percent increase over last Memorial Day.
Lots of people on the road also means lots of law enforcement officers on the road. Officers - state, county and local - will be targeting seat belt violators during a Click It or Ticket campaign this weekend. Last year, officers in Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties wrote 3,503 seat belt tickets over the Memorial Day weekend.
And there will be stepped-up drunk driving and speeding enforcement as well.
Lt. Sterling King, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman, said there will be extra troopers on the roads. The beefed-up ranks come from clearing out the headquarters, putting captains and lieutenants like him on the road, King said.
Traffic deaths were down last year, from 45 statewide over the holiday weekend in 2001 to 30 in 2002. King says troopers want the roads even safer.
"One is too many," he said.
For air travel, the peak for arrivals came Thursday, said Brenda Geoghagan, Tampa International Airport spokeswoman. Airlines reported higher than normal incoming passengers Thursday, and the outbound traffic is expected to be steady all weekend.
Memorial Day isn't a big flying weekend, Geoghagan said, but with an increased terror alert level recently issued, fliers don't want to be late getting to the airport. TIA police are now randomly screening cars on the roads into the airport - as well as screening all cars entering the short-term parking lot.
Geoghagan said the car searches may add just a few minutes, but travelers will want to check with their airlines about when to get to the airport.
And according to the National Weather Service, this weekend will be typical Florida summer weather: Hot. Humid. Chance of afternoon showers.
Today is supposed to be rainy, but generally, highs will be in the upper 80s, with some clouds in the sky, and about a 20 percent chance of rain in the late afternoon, the Weather Service forecasts.
Just in time to go back to work, Tuesday will be even hotter, with highs in the 90s.
