About 2.2 million

Floridians — about 6 percent more than last year — are expected to travel on Memorial Day weekend.

Expect crowded roads on Memorial Day weekend as Floridians heading out for an escape compete with the growing number of tourists aiming to get into the Sunshine State for the holiday.

About 2.2 million Floridians — about 6 percent more than last year — are expected to travel on Memorial Day weekend, which kicks off the summer season, according to a report released Monday by the AAA auto club.

Last week, Visit Orlando announced that 72 million visitors, the most in any U.S. city, had traveled to Orlando in 2017, a record for the tourism industry.

Florida travelers are part of nearly 42 million Americans who are expected to travel during the May holiday weekend.

“A strong economy and growing consumer confidence are giving Americans all the motivation they need to kick off what we expect to be a busy summer travel season with a Memorial Day getaway,” said Vicky Evans, an assistant vice president at AAA, in a statement.

May 24 and 25 — the Thursday and Friday of the holiday weekend — are predicted to be the busiest travel days, with delays on major roads that could be two or three times longer than usual, AAA reported. The most congested time of day could be in the afternoon, when travelers and commuters heading home share the roads.

“Our advice to drivers is to avoid peak commute times in major cities altogether — traveling late morning or early afternoon — or plan alternative routes,” said Graham Cookson, chief economist at INRIX, a global transportation analytics company that works with AAA.

Gasoline also will be its most expensive in years, but that won’t be enough to slow the traveling.

Prices are expected to average $2.82 per gallon during the holiday, the highest in Florida since 2014, when the average topped $3.62, AAA’s study said, citing “expensive crude oil, record gasoline demand and shrinking global supply” to account for the rising prices.

About 89 percent of Florida travelers drive during Memorial Day weekend, compared with about 8 percent who fly. A small percentage also chose other means of transportation, such as cruises, buses or trains.

The No. 1 destination for Americans for the holiday weekend, according to AAA? It’s Orlando, followed by Seattle.