GDOT Ready for Labor Day

State officials are preparing for a busy weekend on the roadways this weekend.

It is the Labor Day weekend and AAA says that 35.5 million Americans will hit the roads and travel more than 50 miles from home this weekend.

That is the highest number since 2008 and up 1 percent from last year.

With that in mind, the Georgia Department of Transportation said it will suspend construction-related lane closures on Interstates and state routes this weekend to try to help make travel safer and easier around the state.

“Labor Day is one of the biggest holidays for people to drive to their destination, so there is a lot of extra traffic all holiday weekend,” said Georgia Department of Transportation Spokesperson Teri Pope. “The Georgia DOT restricts lane closures on interstates and state routes during the holiday driving time.”

That runs from 5 a.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday, when there will be no construction-related lane closures on interstates and state routes.

She said that crews may still be working in proximity to highways and state routes and safety concerns may result in some long-term lane closures staying in place.

Also, incident management or emergency, maintenance-related lane closures could become necessary at any time on any route.

Pope said that as a result, drivers still need to use caution when heading out around Georgia.

“Work zones cannot completely fixed,” said Pope. “There are going to be work zones in place, traffic shifts in place, so please pay attention and be careful.”

The DOT said it typically sees an increase in roadway fatalities during heavy travel holidays, so it urges drivers to slow down, drive alert, and take every precaution to protect yourselves and your passengers.

Pope said that law enforcement will be out patrolling the highways.

“We do have the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and the Department of Public Safety cracking down on impaired driving,” said Pope.

For traffic information in Georgia, the DOT urges motorists to call 511 or visit www.511ga.org.

511 is a free phone call across the state.