Holiday weekend brings busy roads and bustling airports in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Many people have either began or are getting close to kicking off the Fourth of July holiday weekend by hitting the road or hopping on a plane.

The Sat Lake City airport’s spokesperson, Nancy Volmer, said Thursday and Friday are some of the busiest traveling days during the holiday weekend.

The airport expects upwards of 26,000 passengers at the airport’s front doors. That projection doesn’t take into account arriving passengers or those making connecting flights.

The flying traffic volume comes as major airlines cancelled flights over Memorial Day weekend. 

Some airlines and travel experts have even given travelers a heads up that there could be problems over the holiday weekend. 

A combo of sky-high demand, schedule trimming, crew shortages, and weather have all played into airline upsets in the past.

Travelers going through the Salt Lake City airport said so far, they have not experienced any delays. 

“We had a great travel coming out here. We didn’t have any delays. We know some people who had delays, but we had great travel. Everything seems okay for us to get back home,” said Yvonne Roberts.

Some said despite no hiccups yet, there have been recent travel upsets. 

“I’ve been delayed probably 50 percent of the time due to it, half of it being flight attendants, half of it being pilots, some of it being weather. The airport is busy. Everybody’s flying,” said Greg Meredith.

On the ground, despite record setting gas prices, people are not seeming to let that stop them from traveling this holiday weekend. 

Utah transportation traffic engineers said they expect Friday to be one of the busiest days to to take to the roads this weekend, especially on Interstate 15 in and around the Wasatch Front. 

In addition, travelers may see more patrols out on the roads helping to make travel flow safer.