Banking on a three-day weekend
July 9, 2008
In my story about Maryland’s Fourth of July travel, folks in the restaurant and hospitality industry say the holiday’s positioning on a Friday helped bring people out to make a three-day weekend out of the deal. But some Bay Bridge statistics the Maryland Transportation Authority just e-mailed me drive home the three-day weekend effect in a big way.
For example, nearly 60,500 cars crossed the bridge on Thursday, July 3, this year. That’s up 25 percent from the year before and up 42 percent from the corresponding Thursday last year (July 5). The day of the holiday, just 32,500 crossed the bridge last year while more than 46,600 did this year (a 46 percent increase).
The differences are stark — especially when you put them in the context of the rest of the week. Overall, travel on the Bay Bridge was down about 4 percent last week. Not including this year’s peak days (Wednesday and Thursday), traffic was down about 14 percent last week, compared to the corresponding week in 2007.
This is just a snap shot, but it looks as though while people are still taking to the roads, they’re being much more selective about it this year. Marylanders still want to do something special on their vacation days, but perhaps that means they are scrimping in other areas to make up the difference.
Do you think it’ll be worse or better by the next Fourth of July? And where will motorists draw the line? $7 a gallon? $10?
LIZ FARMER, Business Writer
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