Stars, Stripes, Crowds, Traffic Jams

Lifeguards, airport officials and highway patrol officers Friday were bracing for an expected surge in the annual onslaught of travelers escaping for the Independence Day weekend.

They said the next few days could be hectic.

Last year hundreds of thousands of people -- including 250,000 on the 3 1/2 miles of Huntington Beach alone -- flocked to Orange County’s shoreline in the days leading up to the Fourth of July, and authorities say that this year the number could swell.

“We’re expecting larger crowds,” said Mike Baumgartner, a marine safety lieutenant for Huntington Beach. “We expect a massive influx of people -- it could hit as high as 500,000.”

He said cancellation of the yearly fireworks display at the Queen Mary in Long Beach could send many revelers to Orange County.

John Wayne Airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge said she expects a 5% increase in traffic over last year’s holiday weekend, when about 125,000 travelers passed through. A typical summer weekend at the airport sees about 80,000 passengers, she said. To accommodate the increase, the airport is asking travelers to arrive two hours before departure.

A number of holiday fliers, Wedge said, began their trips as early as Wednesday.

On Friday afternoon, however, the crunch hadn’t materialized. Only Pete Gallagher of Lake Forest occupied one particular gray bench near the check-in area, where he sat reading a novel while awaiting his 2:50 p.m. flight to Great Falls, Mont. Gallagher, general manager of an exhibit design manufacturing company, had caught a ride from a co-worker more than two hours before his scheduled departure in anticipation of long lines.

“I’m surprised -- it’s not too bad,” he said of the congestion-free check-in lines and walkways. “I was a little worried.”

According to a recent survey by the Automobile Club of Southern California, Las Vegas, San Diego, Mexico, San Francisco and Hawaii are the top destinations this weekend, and about 80% of the more than 3.5 million Southern Californians going to those places will get there by car.

“It’s sort of a phenomenon since the last quarter of 2003,” said Marie Montgomery, an Auto Club spokeswoman. “People have feelings of security again -- economical and travel security.”

Officer Katrina Lundgren, a spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol, advised motorists to expect delays, especially on major highways leaving and entering Orange County. “Right now we have a maximum enforcement period,” she said. “Eighty percent of available CHP officers will be working the roads.”

Peak traffic periods, Lundgren said, will be Monday night and Tuesday morning as motorists return home.

“We usually see a large crowd [going north] from the beach cities after Fourth of July fireworks,” she said.

To help keep them safe, Montgomery said, the Auto Club is offering those who drink a free “Tipsy Tow” until midnight Monday. Call (800) 400-4AAA, she said, for a free no-questions-asked tow of up to seven miles.