Drivers flood I-40 ahead of Thanksgiving

By JILL MCNEAL
6 News Anchor/Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) - On one of the busiest travel days of the year, motorists flooded Interstate 40 Wednesday as they headed towards their holiday destinations.

One million people in Tennessee are expected to hit the road for Thanksgiving this year, most of them leaving Wednesday and returning Sunday.

In fact, 95 percent of travelers in this state are going by car. 

Knoxville is a popular pit stop for I-40 drivers like Joe Erickson, who was about halfway through his journey from Indiana to North Carolina at noon.

"We're almost out. We coasted in on fumes!" he said.

Robb Flynn is also headed to North Carolina, but from Nashville.

"How has the traffic been so far? It's been a lot lighter than I thought,' he said.

And that's a good thing with two little ones in the back.

"We had a little blow up when we first left the driveway, but they passed out pretty quick and then we put a movie on, and so far so good," Flynn said. 

They'll head back to Tennessee on Sunday, along with almost everybody else.

"Be especially careful then, because people might have tried to cram too much travel into too little time. We might have had a little too much fun over the holiday and be a little tired or otherwise impaired," said Don Lindsey with AAA Tennessee.