Motorists who will be traveling on the Pennsylvania Turnpike this Memorial Day weekend should be prepared for heavy traffic.

Turnpike officials expect more than 2.2 million vehicles will use the toll road from Friday through Monday. That’s a slight increase from last year’s traffic total of about 2.1 million, Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo said.

“We’ve seen natural traffic growth over the last few years,” driven in part by a favorable economy, he said. “Our traffic has been climbing, month over month, by about 1.5 to 2%.”

Traffic will be the heaviest Friday afternoon and Monday evening , according to Turnpike officials. Anticipated vehicle volumes include 760,00 on Friday, 540,000 on Saturday, 440,000 on Sunday and 485,000 on Monday.

To help accommodate that traffic uptick, the Turnpike will suspend maintenance work and have all available lanes open in each direction from 3 p.m. Thursday through 11 p.m. Monday.

State police will have increased patrols on the Turnpike over the weekend, according to Cpl. Steven Ranck of Pennsylvania State Police Troop T, the troop in charge of Turnpike patrols.

“Last year, during the Memorial Day holiday, we cited 2,588 drivers for speeding, distracted driving and seat belt violations,” he said. “Those statistics are not just numbers. They can, and do, represent real people, real lives, real danger.”

Summer traffic predictions for the Turnpike stand at more than 63 million vehicles, from the Memorial Day holiday through Labor Day.

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