More Americans taking longer holiday trips this year

NEW YORK (AP) — More Americans are expected to take long trips this holiday season — and in many parts of the country it looks to be smooth sailing.

About 92 million people will travel 50 miles or more from today through Jan. 2, an increase of 1.4 percent more than last year, according to AAA.

The federation of motor clubs said 90 percent will travel by car. Drivers will find gasoline prices higher than last year, but well below this year's peaks. Air travel will be down about 10 percent.

There was nothing today to indicate any widespread weather disruptions at the beginning of the Christmas travel period, though a winter storm did close large portions of Interstate 25 in New Mexico. Parts of central Texas could see freezing rain.

In Colorado, operations at the Denver airport, one of the nation's busiest, were getting back to normal today after a storm dumped about 10 inches of snow.

The air disruptions were minimal, though when there are problems with air travel today — be it weather, mechanical issues or computer glitches — they are much worse than just a few years ago.