The summer of 2025 has been a busy season of travel, and Labor Day weekend is expected to be a continuation of that trend, Connecticut officials said.
Tracy E. Noble, a spokesperson for AAA Club Alliance, said the organization doesn’t do a specific study for Labor Day, but noted that many people are expected to be on state roads this weekend, especially with a favorable weather forecast.
“They are looking forward at one last hurrah of summer before everything kicks back into school and work mode,” Noble said. “Travel has been very robust this summer. People were looking to travel on all of our other major holidays, and we expect that to continue into Labor Day.”
Gas prices are down slightly from last year, according to AAA. The national average this time last year was $3.33. This year it’s $3.15 as of Aug. 24. The Connecticut average is $3.10 compared to about $3.40 in 2024, Noble said.
Flights, hotels, and car rentals are cheaper this Labor Day weekend compared to last year, according to AAA. Domestic roundtrip flights are 6% cheaper compared to last year, averaging $720 a ticket. Hotel rates are down 11% and car rentals are down 3%. Orlando, New York, Denver and Atlanta are among the top destinations.
Noble said travelers typically stay closer to home for Labor Day and are likely to flock to area beaches. She said that nearly 7,000 motorists were rescued by AAA and its contractors on Connecticut roads during the 2024 Labor Day weekend.
“We are expecting to be extremely busy,” Noble said. “If you are heading out for the weekend, prepare your car now, give it that good once-over, make sure everything is in good working because that’s not how you want to end your summer being stuck on the side of the road.”
According to AAA, the best time to travel this weekend is before lunchtime and even earlier, if possible, on Saturday. The most congestion on the roads is in the afternoon and early evenings.
Noble reminded motorists to ensure they have a spare tire in case of a blowout or a flat tire, and battery issues are another common problem. No matter the issues, Noble said, AAA and its contractors will be fully staffed this weekend.
Josh Morgan, a spokesperson for the Connecticut Department of Transportation, said he expects the typical Labor Day increases on state roads but said the focus for the DOT is keeping impaired drivers off of the road “before they kill themselves or someone else.”
“This is actually going to be part of our “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign,” Morgan said. “In addition to seeing more vehicles out on the roadways traveling for the unofficial end of summer, you’re also going to see more law enforcement out, whether it’s Connecticut State Police or local police departments, they’re going to be out in full force, stepping up those efforts to take impaired drivers off Connecticut roadways.”
Morgan said the number fatalities on state roadways is currently at 148 for 2025, down about 30% from last year when there was 202 and two years ago when it was 198.
“That’s still 148 people who have been killed on our roadways. It’s not just a stat that represents a human life,” Morgan said. “Also, as someone who drives around the state of Connecticut on a daily basis, I want to say that the message is getting out to people, that people are doing the safe, responsible thing, following all traffic laws, but they’re not. People are still driving impaired. People are still speeding. People are still distracted by their phones. So, I think some of this is luck that there hasn’t been more crashes, injuries and fatalities, but it is encouraging that the numbers are better than where they have been in recent years.
“But I don’t want people to have a false sense of security, that everything’s perfect on our roadways because there’s still a lot of dangerous behaviors, a lot of selfish behaviors happening when people are getting behind the wheel,” he added.
The next big travel day will be for Thanksgiving. Noble said AAA is already gearing up for the holiday. According to AAA, it’s not too soon to start planning to get the preferred reservations and time slots for flights.
“We do expect it to kind of be on trend and that’s what we’ve seen over the course of the last several years is this influx in travel, just in general,” Noble said. “So, we’re expecting that to continue through the end of 2025.”
