Memorial Day expected to bring traffic, economic boom to Columbus
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – It’s that time of year, the sun is out which means people are taking to the roads and skies for Memorial Day travel.
Whether residents are going out of state or traveling within Ohio, NBC4 has some tips.
AAA is predicting 1.7 million Ohioans will be traveling this weekend. They said the roads will be busiest Thursday. They expect the traffic to keep up through the weekend, especially in the morning and afternoon hours.
“So we're just expecting, obviously, you know, the unofficial kickoff for summer. So it's going to be increased travel and we want to make sure everyone is going to be safe getting to and from where they're going,” said Lt. Ray Santiago with The Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Columbus airport officials say 170,000 passengers will be flying through today until Monday. They said air travel this weekend is up by about 3% this year over last. The biggest message officials want to get across is travelers should be aware of their surroundings: watch out for construction workers on the roads and be aware of other drivers.
“So we really need people to pay attention, especially in these work zones, because things can change. You can have a lot of people coming from out of state traveling through Ohio that may not be familiar with these work zones, whereas you and I might be, they are not,” said Matt Bruning, the spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Many people will be traveling to destinations outside Ohio, but Columbus tourism officials tell NBC4 there are a lot of people planning to make this their Memorial Day weekend destination.
They said there are several events drawing people in. There are two festivals happening at city parks. For sports, the USA Men's and Women's Adult Volleyball Championships are going on at the convention center. Plus, the Savannah Bananas will be playing at Huntington Park.
“They're actually coming and staying longer because of the holiday on Monday. But we know that there will be a lot of friends and families coming into central Ohio to experience all the wonderful things that our community is doing,” Brian Ross, the CEO of Experience Columbus.
The National Veterans Memorial Museum is hosting several events this weekend. Tomorrow they will be opening a new exhibit called “The Ghost Army: the combat on-artists of WWII.” This is an exhibit about artists who were enlisted to deceive the enemy by creating fake military bases, planes and more.
“We have some very unique artifacts in here. Some are some actual uniforms worn by some of the ghost army. Some are the patches that they created that they just created out of the blue and said, today, we're going to be this unit. And then the next day they take off a patch and put another unit on. So it's really just to give people the in-depth story of who this unit was, because this information was classified until the mid-nineties,” said Andy Cloyd, the museum director.
The museum said each year they are seeing more people travel from out of state for the weekend.
“We call this one of our super bowl weekends, but because we know that we want people to connect with us on Memorial Day. So there's going to be a lot of stuff going on this weekend and people are coming to Columbus with their families,” Cloyd said.
The museum is hosting a Memorial Day ceremony on Monday and also a ceremony for gold star families on Sunday.
“This museum, as everybody most people know, is about a seven hour drive of half of the population of the country right here in Columbus. So it's in less than a day's drive to come here and experience not only the museum, but all the other things that Columbus has to offer,” Cloyd said.
Experience Columbus said this weekend brings a big economic boom and they expect that to keep up through festival season. The Ohio State Highway Patrol said they will be out in full force this weekend looking for impaired or distracted drivers. They said the busiest times on the road will be in the morning and afternoon.