Time, money, crowds: The cost of Labor Day 2023 travel plans
Washington and Oregon drivers continue to pay more for gas than the rest of the nation as the Labor Day travel weekend approaches.
The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is around $3.83, according to AAA's data as of Tuesday morning.
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Oregon has the fourth-most expensive gas in the U.S. at around $4.80 a gallon, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports. That is slightly lower than prices in California, Washington, and Hawaii. The Medford region has the highest average price in Oregon at about $4.85, one cent higher than the Portland area. Just over the state border, Vancouver has an average of nearly $5.10.
In Washington, the average price is $5.11. King County is averaging $5.31.
OPB notes that West Coast usually sees the highest gas prices because it's relatively far from oil-producing parts of the country. Nationally, crude oil prices have simmered after a recent increase, largely driven by a cut in Middle East oil production this spring.
RELATED: What we do and don't know about high gas prices in Washington
Although national prices may be stagnating, drivers should expect a jump closer to Labor Day weekend as more people book flights and plan road trips.
The Washington State Patrol will be keeping an extra close eye on weekend traffic as drivers hit the roads. WSP is also activating its Mobile Impaired Driving Unit which specializes in DUI calls.
Over Labor Day weekend 2022, Washington State Patrol responded to:
- 448 speeding violations
- 232 aggressive driving calls
- 115 collisions
- 60 distracted driving incidents
- 21 DUIs
- 19 seatbelt violations
- 2 fatal collisions
Sea-Tac Airport
Travelers passing through Sea-Tac Airport are expected to surge to pre-pandemic levels over Labor Day weekend (estimated to be 18% higher than Labor Day 2022), according to the Port of Seattle.
Monday, Sept. 4 is forecast to be the most popular travel day at Sea-Tac — 190,000 expected travelers.
Friday, Sept. 1 is also expected to be a very busy day with an estimated 185,000 travelers. Sunday, Sept. 2 will have about 177,000 travelers.
Before Labor Day 2023, Sea-Tac Airport has already seen 3% more travelers than the Port of Seattle expected summer travel (that adds up to more than 500,000 travelers). In fact, so far, summer travel through the airport has added up to a 14.6% increase over summer 2022. A total of 29 million passengers used the airport between Jan. 1 and July 29.
The Port of Seattle expects 2023 travel volumes to be near 2019 levels, and 2024 is forecast to break travel records and exceed 2019 levels.
Ferries
"If you don't like waiting in line, and I think most people probably don't, don't travel when everybody else travels," said Ian Sterling with Washington State Ferries. "The way to do that is to travel later at night, or earlier in the morning, if your schedule allows that. The other hack we know doesn't work for everybody, if you can leave your car or truck at home and walk aboard, there's plenty of walk-on capacity."
In Washington state, folks with Labor Day weekend travel plans that include a ferry trip are likely going to have company. Washington State Ferries predicts that 400,000 people will come aboard this weekend, making this summer the busiest since 2019.
Saturday is set to be the peak, but drivers can expect the longest lines and wait times heading westbound to the islands Thursday through Saturday.
Also, long wait times eastbound, Sunday through Tuesday.
As usual be prepared for ferry cancellations or delays due to an ongoing crew shortage, and the possibility of mechanical issue with the aging fleet.
Read Oregon Public Broadcasting's full report here.
