Millions hitting the road this Labor Day

Drivers are hitting the road this Labor Day weekend.

“Labor day is the last extended weekend before we get into the colder weather. So we’re going to have a lot of people out,” said CHP Officer Oscar Loza.

According to AAA, motorists will be paying the lowest gas prices since 2004.

“From Santa Cruz to Big Sur we expect a lot of traffic. The majority will be in the more populated areas, but we do have a lot of tourism down in the Big Sur area,” said Loza.

Due to firefighting operations still going on in the area, officers will be staged around Highway 1.

“We’re going to make sure people don’t park in the areas designated for fire equipment and they don’t block the roads as they wait for a parking spot,” Loza.

Highway 101 in Monterey County will also see heavy traffic.

“A lot of people traveling south to the Los Angeles area and a lot of people coming up north to visit the Bay Area,” said Loza.

In Santa Cruz County, the CHP expects heavy traffic on Highway 17 southbound on Friday, and northbound on Monday. It will be much the same on Highway 1 from State Park Drive through the Fish Hook.

“We’re going to have every available officer working the roads,” said Loza.

Over the same four day period last year in Santa Cruz there were 35 crashes and 18 arrests made by CHP. In Monterey, 16 drunk drivers were arrested and there was one fatal collision.

“It was a solo vehicle collision. The 23-year-old driver killed his 19-year-old passenger. Friday and Monday are set to be the busiest days of travel.