Service centers see run on tire changeovers ahead of holiday travel

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - With a storm on the way, travelers in our region will need to plan extra time and take extra care on the roads to their holiday destinations this week.

AAA says nearly 50 million Americans are driving to their Thanksgiving. Travel is up more than 2% from last year.

Drivers are still squeezing in those last-minute tire changeover appointments before making their trips.

“This year, we actually started in June. When we started taking tires off, for the first time people wanted to schedule their cars for October and November appointments in June,” said Ray Kaigle of Kaigle’s Service Center.

Kaigle has owned his service center for more than 24 years. He says he’s never seen this volume of people making appointments before Thanksgiving until this year.

“Like with the snow a week and a half ago, there was a large volume of calls. But we were so far booked out, we were booking the 18th or the beginning of December then. Now we are just, most of the other shops are catching up,” Kaigle said.

Winter tires or not, the roads are busy as people are trying to beat the storm and get to their Thanksgiving dinner safely.

“I’m visiting my daughter and son-in-law and the grandkids down in Providence, Rhode Island. The wife packs, (laughs) and I just fill up the car with gas,” said Manuel Holly of Canada.

Green Mountain Power says if you plan to drive or travel when the storm hits, keep your cellphone charged, pack water and some snacks, keep your distance, pay attention to the weather forecast and changing conditions, and stay far away from any downed power lines.

VTrans says they are gearing up to have at least 20 crews out when the flakes start to fly.

“We will be in an hour earlier than what they anticipate coming through our area so that we can be ready. Our crews will be out monitoring the roads. Like I said, we will have a reduced crew this afternoon because it’s kind of up in the air, and it’s a little bit later,” said Dan Shepard of VTrans.

Just down the road at the Burlington airport, officials expect 2,000-2,500 people to fly out Wednesday and on Thanksgiving Day. Those numbers are on par with previous Thanksgiving travel days.

for the latest forecast from the WCAX Weather Team.