CLOSE TO HOME LABOR DAY TRAVEL MAY BE CURTAILED AS ECONOMY PINCHES LOCAL RESIDENTS.Byline: Ryan Oliver Staff Writer Fewer Californians are expected to be hitting the road this Labor Day Labor Day, holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada on the first Monday in September to honor the laborer. It was inaugurated by the Knights of Labor in 1882 and made a national holiday by the U.S. Congress in 1894. weekend, marking the first potential end-of-summer holiday travel decline in years, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. experts. The Automobile Club of Southern California The Automobile Club of Southern California was founded December 13, 1900 in Los Angeles as one of the nation's first motor clubs dedicated to improving roads, proposing traffic laws and improvement of overall driving conditions. said the trend is expected nationally and can be attributed to the sluggish economy Sluggish Economy A state in the economy in which the growth is slow, flat or declining. The term can refer to the economy as a whole or a component of the economy, such as weak housing starts. and the lingering effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. ``I've been here five years, and this is the first time I've seen a decrease,'' club spokeswoman Carol Thorp said. An estimated 4.63 million Californians - 2.88 million from Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, - will leave home via car, plane or boat for the three-day weekend, Thorp said. Of those taking cars, there is expected to be a 0.6 percent decline from last year. The auto club's poll of Southern Californians planning to travel shows that the most popular destinations remain nearby and include the Central California coast, San Diego, Las Vegas, San Francisco and the Grand Canyon, Thorp said. ``The vast majority of people will travel by car and stay close to home,'' she said. Gas prices are averaging $1.63 in Los Angeles, up 5 cents to 10 cents from Labor Day weekend prices last year. Thorp said the small difference is unlikely to affect car-travel plans, but that some people are nervous about their economic situation and are choosing to stay home. The California Highway Patrol will add extra patrols as it prepares for holiday weekend crashes and drunk drivers. ``We will be having a maximum enforcement period,'' said CHP CHP Chapter CHP Combined Heat and Power CHP California Highway Patrol CHP Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Turkish: Republican People's Party) CHP Chemical Hygiene Plan (OSHA) CHP Community Health Plan Officer Luis Mendoza. ``That's when 90 percent of our officers will be out working the streets and the highways. We get out there and keep an eye out for impaired drivers, and we try to remove traffic collisions off the highways to keep things moving.'' A CHP drunk driving task force of six to 10 officers will be patrolling the streets of East Los Angeles East Los Angeles, uninc. city (1990 pop. 126,379), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles, in an industrial area. It has a large Mexican-American population. There is a performing arts center and a cultural center. A junior college is there. , Mendoza said. ``As soon as Friday night comes down, we see an increase in the number of impaired drivers because people want to start celebrating the weekend,'' he said. ``We want people to be really careful and pre-assign designated drivers. We also want family members looking out for others who attempt to drive a vehicle while impaired.'' The California Department of Transportation The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is a government agency in the U.S. state of California. Its mission is to improve mobility across the state. It manages the state highway system and is actively involved with public transportation systems in California. is also advising motorists heading to Northern California on the Golden State Freeway The Golden State Freeway is a north-south freeway running through Kern County and Los Angeles County, California. Originally built as U.S. Highway 99, it was re-signed as Interstate 5 in 1964. to consider traveling on state Highway 101 instead because of two construction projects in Valencia. The two bridge construction projects, part of a three-year improvement of the freeway near Six Flags California, have been causing daily backups on the I-5 under normal circumstances. Heavy holiday traffic could make the backups even worse. Los Angeles International Airport “LAX” redirects here. For other uses, see LAX (disambiguation). “KLAX” redirects here. For other uses, see KLAX (disambiguation). Los Angeles International Airport (IATA: LAX, ICAO: KLAX, FAA LID: LAX officials are expecting nearly 700,000 passengers to pass through the airport during the weekend, down 15 percent from last year. Thorp said the Auto Club expects a 7 percent increase in people traveling by bus, train and cruise ship to help make up for the decline in air travel. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Camping World technician Johnny Sanchez makes a repair on an RV so its owner can leave town for the Labor Day weekend. Selling a single grade of gas would put a cap on incessant price spikes in California, See BUSINESS. Evan Yee/Staff Photographer |
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