Holiday travelers heading home Sunday

Holiday travelers are heading home via planes, trains and automobiles

November 29, 1998
Web posted at: 10:36 a.m. EST (1536 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- It was quiet at New York's Penn Station early Sunday morning, but it was the calm before the storm. While 27,000 passengers pass through the station on an average day, 50,000 were expected Sunday.

An estimated 34 million Americans have taken to the skies, roads or railways in the holiday exodus that began on Wednesday and ends Monday -- a 2 percent increase over last Thanksgiving, according to estimates by AAA.

Most people are returning home Sunday, making it one of the nation's busiest travel days of the year.

About 6 million will travel by airplane, train or bus during the holiday, according to AAA, while a record number of travelers -- nearly 28 million -- will be in their cars, driving 100 miles or more from home.

The Southeast is expected to see the busiest highways this holiday weekend, with about 7.2 million vehicles on the road, followed by the West with 5.4 million, the Midwest with 5.3 million and the Great Lakes with 4.9 million.

Along with the increase in cars on the road, buses are also out in record numbers. AAA estimates that 1 million riders will travel between Wednesday and Monday, and for those who choose to go Greyhound on Sunday, the company has added 3,200 buses to its regular fleet.

Amtrak expects 550,000 passengers aboard its trains for the holiday period, a 30 percent jump above the normal load.