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Are you hitting the road this weekend? Compared to a surge in Fourth of July travel last year, the number of Southern Californians expected to hit the roads and airways over the upcoming holiday weekend is expected to dip by 2.3 percent from 2010, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.obd2

According to the Auto Club, nearly 2.9 million Southland residents are
expected to travel 50 miles or more over the Fourth of July weekend, a slight
drop from last year's 2.97 million travelers.

The drop comes one year after a large increase in July Fourth travel. Last
year's holiday weekend saw a 38.6 percent increase from 2009 in the number of
people who traveled, according to the Auto Club.

"Last year we saw a big return of the summer vacation among our members
and this year started out well for travel bookings also,'' according to
Filomena Andre, the Auto Club's vice president for travel products and
services.

Andre said that high gas prices have impacted travel plans, but fortunately the prices are continuing to drop. More vacation deals have also popped up because travel providers have available space they need to fill.

Of the people traveling this coming weekend, 79 percent -- or 2.29
million -- are expected to drive. That's a 2.9 percent decrease from last
year's 2.36 million. About 337,000 are expected to fly, a 1.7 percent increase from last year. Another 271,000 people will travel by bus, RV, train, ship or other means, a 2.6 percent drop.

Statewide, 4.66 million people are expected to travel this weekend, down
from 4.77 million from last year. Of those, 3.68 million will drive and
nearly 542,000 will fly. Nationally, 39 million people are expected to travel, a dip of 2.5 percent.

The top five destinations for Southern California residents are expected
to be San Diego, Las Vegas, San Francisco, the Central Coast and Disneyland.

The Long Beach branch of the Auto Club, which offers free domestic maps and travel guides to its members, is located at 4800 Airport Plaza Dr., Long Beach, CA 90815.