Travelers hit the highway for Fourth of July weekend
Despite climbing gas prices, area welcome center sees more visitors
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Thursday, July 2, 2009 9:59 AM PDT
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| The Ontario Welcome Center is leading the way in going ‘Green.’ Joe Davis (from left), Ken Galloway and J.R. Lattin, Oregon Department of Transportation landscapers, install a recycling bin for travelers to use at the Ontario Welcome Center/rest area. This is a trial project and bins were installed in both parking areas. The rest area may play host to a large number of travelers this Fourth of July weekend. |
ONTARIO — The American Automobile Association may be predicting fewer Americans will hit the highway this Fourth of July weekend, but don’t tell the staff at the Ontario Welcome Center, who are already seeing visitors in numbers greater than last year, many from the intermountain West and Midwest.
AAA forecasts a decline in travel for the normally busy holiday for the second year in a row, despite lower fuel prices.
“Weaker travel intentions suggest Americans are taking their cues from sagging incomes and higher unemployment,” AAA Idaho spokesman Dave Carlson said.
However, Carlson said the mountain region, is the only one that is expected to see an increase in travel. And, that is the region that has provided the biggest increase in visitors at the welcome center, according to staff.
“We’ve been busy,” Welcome Center manager Karen Cleaver said. “Every month we have been up over last year. We have seen 1,000 people this month (June).”
Those 1,000 people are just a small portion of the overall number of motorists who stop at the rest area/welcome center just inside Oregon.
Cleaver said she noticed one major difference from the 2008 Fourth of July holiday weekend travel and this year.
“More of the people are camping than moteling,” she said.
About 500 more people from the intermountain West have stopped into the Welcome Center and there has been an increase in people from the Midwest and farther east, according to Cleaver. There have also been a lot of foreign visitors. Cleaver said she thought the lower gas prices, even though they have been climbing in recent days, are what pushed people out on the road. Gas prices are hovering around $2.70 per gallon of regular, which is up 35 cents from Memorial Day.
However, while numbers at the Ontario Welcome Center are up, they are down at other welcome centers around Oregon.
“This is a water sports weekend,” Malheur County Sheriff Andy Bentz said and many people will be heading to local reservoirs, where his marine deputy will be patrolling, specifically at Owyhee and Bully Creek Reservoirs.
“We are having additional people on duty for the holiday weekend,” Bentz said, noting the number of activities going on around the valley. Many people will going to family activities, he said.
