CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Lower gasoline prices and relatively good travel weather helped fuel a significant boost in traffic on the West Virginia Turnpike during the Thanksgiving travel period.
“I thought we would be up three to four percent,” Turnpike General Manager Greg Barr said. “But we were up 5.7 percent.”
The state Parkways Authority measures the Thanksgiving travel period on the 88-mile toll road from Tuesday before Thanksgiving to the Sunday after the holiday. There were total of 763,000 transactions at the toll plazas, which was 41,000 more than last year, according to Barr.
“Thankfully we didn’t have any serious wrecks or blockage of the roadway,” Barr said.
Gasoline prices are hovering around $2.00-a-gallon, about $1.00 cheaper than last year. The weather last week was also good for travel with dry conditions and temperatures above normal, Barr said.
The busiest day on the Turnpike was Sunday with 178,000 transactions.
“It did back up at times (Sunday) because there were times when we had 2,500 vehicles an hour coming at us,” Barr said.
The second busiest day was Wednesday with 171,000 transactions.