Memorial Day weekend kicks off with travel, BBQ

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The security lines have been long at Chicago's airports Friday as people scramble to get out of town for the long Memorial Day holiday, but many others will spend the weekend at home with their families.

The kickoff of the Memorial Day weekend in Westmont began as it always does, with the western suburb's annual Red, White and BBQ Festival.

"Everybody has a great weekend, whether you're coming here for a barbeque or if you're doing it home for barbeque, going to have a great weekend," said Joe Alexander, Rasta Joe's BBQ.

The 9th annual free-admission event not only features one of the largest barbecue cooking contests in Illinois, but also has live music, a beer tent and an all-ages carnival.

While Memorial Day is a holiday to honor fallen United States service members, the day and weekend is also the official start of the summer travel season.

Mary Bickett with Traveloni.com says she's been busy all day helping people get out of town.

"People want to start traveling in the summer, we do a lot of Europe, we do the Caribbean, we do Mexico, so we're very busy," she said.

Although Friday will be the busiest day of the holiday weekend at both Chicago airports, experts say 37 million Americans will go 50 miles or more from home, an increase of 4.7 percent.

"Low gas prices are really contributing to the reason that people are out there traveling. We're estimating that Americans have saved about $400 already this year," said Beth Mosher, AAA Chicago.

Still others opted to stay put for the holiday. Despite cooler temperatures, some decided to enjoy a sunny lakefront before possible weekend storms threaten to wash out cookouts planned for the Memorial Day weekend.

"Trying to get it all in. It's short, so you want to get in as much as you can," said Bob Koshiol.

ON THE ROAD

The Illinois Tollway said a record 4.7 million drivers will use the tollway system Thursday-Tuesday. That's up more than 4 percent from last year.

AAA said this weekend, the number of Americans hitting the road will increase by 4.7 percent.

Gas prices crept up heading into the holiday weekend, but they are about $1 less than this time last year.

Expected heavy traffic throughout Illinois this Memorial Day weekend has prompted the Illinois Department of Transportation to stop doing any non-emergency roadwork for a few days.

In a news release, IDOT said roadwork will be suspended wherever possible from 3 p.m. Friday through Monday night.

But the department said while it will open lanes wherever possible to reduce traffic congestion, there still will be plenty of roads closed in work zones around the state.

As a result, IDOT advises motorists to be on the lookout for lane closures and obey work zone speed limits wherever they're posted.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.