Alabama Department of Transportation suspends lane closures for Fourth of July

MONTGOMERY, Ala. ( WIAT ) — With the Fourth of July only a week away, some Alabamians are already preparing for an extended holiday.

AAA predicts more than 70 million people will travel over 50 miles for this year’s holiday. To help ease travel frustrations on the road, the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) announced a statewide suspension of lane closures from July 3 through July 7.

Experts say there are a few things you should know before starting your drive, as Tony Harris with ALDOT says congestion is still expected to hit the roads.

“We encourage people to plan their trips, and they can do that with the ALGO Traffic App or algotraffic.com for the web version,” Harris said. “That will help them get information about travel times.”

Rick Galloway is the pastor of Dorsett Chapel Church in Salisbury, North Carolina. His church planned a trip to Montgomery for their youth group early to avoid having to travel on the Fourth.

“They planned this perfectly so we could actually get back and enjoy the Fourth at home and not worry about the business on the highways,” Galloway said. “So we’ll actually be able to spend some time with our families back home.”

Troy Smith is a native of Mobile, who says his family is staying home to enjoy the holiday.

“We’re gonna stay put. We don’t like to get out on the road and do a whole lot of traveling,” said Smith. “But there’s a whole lot to do right there where we live in Baldwin County.

Sgt. Jeremy Burkett with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency says troopers will be stationed on the roads and waterways to make sure everyone stays safe.

“We look at patterns of criminal behavior just like we do crash data and crash statistics to say hey, these are locations where historically we’ve seen issues,” Burkett said.

Burkett also advised those traveling to focus on the road when driving.

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