More travelers to hit road for Thanksgiving

Gasoline prices in Southern California have surged since the state’s gas tax increase, but that won’t discourage holiday travelers during the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend.

About 3.87 million Southern Californians are expected to travel for the long holiday weekend, a 3.6% increase over last year’s Thanksgiving weekend, according to an annual projection by the Auto Club of Southern California.

Of the holiday vacationers who will travel at least 50 miles from home, 86% will go by car, a 3.5% increase over last year, according to the Auto Club projection.

The increase comes despite gas prices that will be the highest in Southern California since Thanksgiving 2013. The statewide average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.23, while the price in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $3.29 — 23 cents higher than a month ago and 47 cents higher than a year ago.

Some of the gasoline price increase comes from a 12cent hike in the excise tax that took effect Nov. 1 to pay for transportation projects.

The Auto Club said the price increase probably won’t dissuade Southern Californians from driving because most vacationers made their holiday travel plans before gasoline prices jumped.

Nationally, the Auto Club predicts that 50.9 million Americans will travel for the holiday, a 3.3% increase from last year and the highest total since 2005.