{"id":2458731,"date":"2020-05-21T22:24:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-22T04:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/light-holiday-weekend-traffic-expected-by-aaa\/"},"modified":"2020-05-21T22:24:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T04:24:00","slug":"light-holiday-weekend-traffic-expected-by-aaa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/light-holiday-weekend-traffic-expected-by-aaa\/","title":{"rendered":"Light holiday weekend traffic expected by AAA"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/HolidayTraffic-VDN-052220-1024x682.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/HolidayTraffic-VDN-052220-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/HolidayTraffic-VDN-052220-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/HolidayTraffic-VDN-052220-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/HolidayTraffic-VDN-052220-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/HolidayTraffic-VDN-052220-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Memorial Day traffic is expected to be vastly reduced from 2019. In fact, AAA Colorado isn&#8217;t even offering a forecast for this year&#8217;s holiday.<\/strong><br \/><em>Pam Boyd\/pboyd@eaglevalleyenterprise.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Memorial Day weekend is viewed as the traditional start to the summer travel season. Not this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Thanks to the national economic shutdown due to the COVID-19 virus, light traffic is expected for the holiday weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A Thursday press release from the Colorado Department of Transportation stated that \u201clower than normal\u201d traffic volume is expected for the holiday weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In 2019, 159,201 vehicles traveled through the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels over the three-day weekend. No one know what to expect this year.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cFor the first time in 20 years, AAA won\u2019t release a Memorial Day travel forecast,\u201d said Skyler McKinley of Colorado AAA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">McKinley added that 43 million people nationwide traveled over the holiday last year. That was the second-highest number on record.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis year, we think it\u2019s going to be one of the lowest recorded,\u201d McKinley said. \u201cFolks are staying at home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Those sticking close to home are observing the state\u2019s safer-at-home guidelines, have economic concerns or some combination. Besides that, hotels in Eagle County are closed to out-of-town reservations. That won\u2019t change until Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">While lodging and activities are limited, McKinley said AAA\u2019s early analysis suggests people who do travel are likely to go within about one tank of gas from home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Again, though, there isn\u2019t much going on. While area trails are open, Sylvan Lake State Park is open only by reservation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Many of the state\u2019s seasonal roadways are also opening late. Independence Pass between Leadville and Aspen isn\u2019t expected to open until June 1, about a week later than normal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">While lighter traffic is expected, the Colorado State Patrol is stepping up enforcement on the road.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">According to a release sent by Trooper Jacob Best, the agency has launched a project called Target Zero in the Interstate 70 mountain corridor \u2014 Eagle, Summit and Garfield counties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The project includes \u201czero tolerance for impaired, aggressive or distracted driving,\u201d according to a news release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The goal, according to the release, is no fatal crashes or crashes with impaired drivers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">While this is shaping up to be a quiet holiday weekend, Vail Valley Partnership President Chris Romer said the state\u2019s gradual reopening seems to favor the Vail Valley in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Given the valley\u2019s proximity to the Front Range, Romer said, \u201cWe\u2019re as well positioned as anybody to take advantage\u201d of relaxed restrictions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\">Vail Daily Business Editor Scott Miller can be reached at <a href=\"mailto:smiller@vaildaily.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">smiller@vaildaily.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/local\/light-holiday-weekend-traffic-expected-by-aaa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Memorial Day traffic is expected to be vastly reduced from 2019. In fact, AAA Colorado isn&#8217;t even offering a forecast for this year&#8217;s holiday.Pam Boyd\/pboyd@eaglevalleyenterprise.com The Memorial Day weekend is viewed as the traditional start to the summer travel season. Not this year. Thanks to the national economic shutdown due to the COVID-19 virus, light [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2458731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-17 10:09:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2458731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2458731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2458731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2458731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}