T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Trooper Stephen Williams with the St. Clairsville post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol will be ready with his radar gun this Memorial Day weekend. Traffic is expected to be heavy and troopers will be out in force.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Traffic is expected to be heavy this Memorial Day, with the American Automobile Association anticipating a record number of cars on the road and the highway patrol out in force.

“I’ve just been hearing it’s going to be a little busier than normal,” said Lt. Maurice Waddell of the Ohio State Highway Patrol St. Clairsville post. “It’s always busy, in my opinion, on the holiday travel season.”

Waddell said there would be a minimum of six troopers on the roads per shift at any given time.

“Because that’s the start of the summer traveling season, we do expect a lot of traffic and we’re going to have all available troopers here at the post working. We’re also going to have federal overtime available for the troopers to work,” Waddell said. “We’re going to be visible (on the interstate). There’s no doubt of that.”

Waddell observed that the celebratory mood and carelessness can combine to create hazards.

“Typically around the holidays what we see is a significant uptick in speed, OVI arrests and safety belt arrests have also gone up during these times. That’s almost a common theme throughout the major holidays,” he said.

Waddell said that the increase in police presence will coincide with the national Click It or Ticket campaign, set for May 20 through June 2, which was announced Monday at Heritage Port.

“Our main focus, obviously, is going to be safety belt violations and making sure people are being restrained. … Obviously we’re going to be looking for impaired drivers, OVIs, aggressive driving, distracted driving,” Waddell said, adding that the goal is no fatal or injury-related crashes.

Waddell added that Fridays and Saturdays usually have their own share of troubles.

“Saturday into Sunday, a lot of people are already at their destination. That’s usually when the OVI arrests start to spike,” he said.

AAA Spokeswoman Kimberly Schwind said that through recent years, road trips remain prevalent and common among Americans.

“We are expecting across the country a record number of people that are going to be driving this holiday. Overall it’s the second highest travel volume on record, but a record number of people that are going to be driving, so 90 percent of Ohio travelers are going to be driving to their destination. That includes those in Belmont County, so it’s going to be crowded on the roadways, especially during peak time,” she said.

Schwind said AAA expects to respond to 353,000 calls for roadside assistance, including 15,000 in Ohio, including breakdowns, dead batteries, flat tires and lockouts.

“If your car battery is three years old or older, it is at risk for failure, especially as we get into the summer heat,” she said. She also emphasized the importance of paying attention to the condition of tires.

Schwind added that an increase in prosperity has encouraged vacationers to take to the road.

“The reason we’re seeing travel continue to grow is because of the economy. When you look at the travel numbers over the last 15 years or so, you notice a dip when the recession hit in 2008 and 2009, so people pulled back. They didn’t have as much disposable income in the economy, and so they weren’t spending their money on things like travel. Unemployment was very high at that time. As we’ve seen the economy recover, unemployment dropped,” she said. “People have more money…We’ve continue to see this growth in travel really ever since 2010. We’ve seen a steady growth in travel and we continue to see that growth.”

“The all-American road trip is still alive and well.”