Memorial Day Travel Forecast 2025: Optimal Times to Hit the Road

VIRGINIA — If you plan to travel away from home for the Memorial Day weekend, it’s best to steer clear of highways during late afternoon and evening hours in Virginia.

AAA has issued its yearly travel prediction for the upcoming holiday season in both Virginia and across the country. For this Memorial Day weekend, they anticipate approximately 1.23 million people traveling at least 50 miles away from home. This represents a projected rise of about 2.5% compared to last year and is just shy of reaching the historical high set in Virginia back in 2005 when 1.24 million individuals journeyed during this period. The estimate covers the extended holiday timeframe spanning from Thursday, May 22nd through Monday, May 26th.

The AAA reported that this year’s projection showed the smallest increase in Memorial Day travel since 2016.

Morgan Dean, who handles public and government relations for AAA Mid-Atlantic in Virginia, notes that economic uncertainties are currently foremost in the minds of travelers. ‘Even with these worries,’ he adds, ‘Memorial Day weekend signals the informal beginning of summer for many people in Virginia, prompting them to take time off from their jobs and studies to enjoy a long weekend either at the beach, the bay, lakeside, in the mountains, or exploring one of Virginia’s numerous tourist spots.’

Most of Virginia’s Memorial Day travelers—1.08 million people—are expected to drive. This number exceeds the 1.06 million recorded both last year and in 2019 before the pandemic began. According to AAA, cheaper fuel costs might be contributing to this rise in automobile traffic.

The average gasoline price in Virginia stands at $3.03, which is below last year’s figure of $3.46. Specifically, in Northern Virginia, the current average cost is $3.12, marking a decrease from $3.58 recorded over the previous year.

Other predictions for Virginian travel indicate an increase to 104,854 air passengers (a rise of 1.3 percent), along with 37,775 individuals expected to use alternative modes of transportation like buses, trains, and cruise ships (an uptick of 6.7 percent).

Across the country, AAA predicts that 45.1 million individuals will journey at least 50 miles for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. This includes approximately 39.4 million travelers using personal vehicles, 3.6 million taking flights, with the remainder utilizing buses, trains, and cruise ships totaling over 2 million. Data from AAA bookings indicates that ticket costs for domestic flights have risen around 2% compared to this period last year. The organization notes that surges in alternative modes of transportation can mostly be credited to an increased interest in cruising.

Top and Bottom Travel Times

Transportation data analyst
INRIX
anticipates that Washington, D.C., will be among the top five U.S. metro areas experiencing severe traffic congestion. It advises commuters to depart during the earlier part of the day.

These are the optimal and least optimal periods for traveling during the Memorial Day weekend as forecasted by INRIX:

Thursday, May 22: Hardest period from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., ideal timing before 12 p.m.
Friday, May 23: Hardest period from noon to 8 p.m., ideal timing before 11 a.m.
Saturday, May 24: Lowest availability between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., optimal timing before noon.
Sunday, May 25: Hardest period from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., ideal timing before 1 p.m.
Memorial Day, Monday, May 26: Peak congestion between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., optimal travel before 2 p.m.

The Virginia Department of Transportation has not provided a particular prediction for optimal and least favorable times to travel on Virginia’s interstates. Nevertheless, visitors have the option to examine a holiday travel patterns map for guidance.
predicts locations of congestion
hourly rates determined by past information.

VDOT plans to remove most of its highway work zones and temporary road closures from Friday, May 23 until Tuesday, May 27 to accommodate heightened holiday travel. Some semi-permanent work areas might stay active during this period. For current traffic updates, real-time information can be accessed through
Virginia’s 511
And by dialing 511 from inside the state.

In Northern Virginia, motorists should keep in mind that the
The summertime reversal plan for the I-95 and I-395 Express Lanes
It starts on Thursday, May 22. The schedule will run until September 2.

The schedule for the holiday weekend Express Lanes is outlined below:

Thursday, May 22 and Friday, May 23: 10 a.m. switch from northbound to southbound
Saturday, May 24: 2 PM switch from southbound to northbound
On Sunday, May 25 and Monday, May 26, which is Memorial Day, lanes will be open in the northbound direction throughout the day.
Tuesday, May 27: 10 AM switch from northbound to southbound

VDOT recommends that people traveling to Virginia Beach and North Carolina’s Outer Banks from the peninsula utilize the I-664 Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel instead of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel because of ongoing construction.