More than 40 million Americans are traveling this Memorial Day weekend and more than 5 million of those travelers are Californians.
AAA says the busiest days on the road are behind us, but highways were still packed on Monday afternoon. Tourists crowding the beaches over the weekend are now gassing up and hitting the road.
"Coming back this way on a holiday weekend, the line right here to get on Highway 101 takes a long time," said Leny Martinez, a Porterville resident.
A few miles deep on Highway 46, traffic slows to a crawl.
"It’s been like hell, we’re going to waste gas so we just pulled over," said David Jennings, a Fresno resident.
Several drivers pulled over to the side of the Highway in an attempt to wait out the traffic jam.
"I’ll pull up a tent and a table so we can play some Dominos," joked Jenning.
"Passing through town, going through Yosemite to Santa Barbara, there was a lot of traffic headed on the 46. A lot of people coming back from the beach it looked like, but it’s like that every year," said Santa Barbara resident Matthew Beausoleil.
The yearly influx of traffic keeps law enforcement busy. California Highway Patrol is in a maximum enforcement period through the holiday weekend.
Two people died in a crash over the weekend and several other crashes sent passengers to the hospital.
With the increase in traffic collisions, CHP is asking residents for help restocking blood banks. There is a blood drive on Tuesday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the California Highway Patrol headquarters in San Luis Obispo.
