Aside from the dreary, rainy weather, it almost felt like a normal Memorial Day weekend in New England – with the return of congested highways and traffic backups. Traffic on the Maine Turnpike was up over 66% from last year's holiday weekend – when COVID travel restrictions remained in place – but still fell short of pre-pandemic numbers. Nationally, AAA Travel had predicted more than 37 million people would travel 50 miles or more from their homes between May 27 and May 31. In New England alone, AAA Northeast estimated 1.6 million people would travel by car in the six-state region. "People who booked trips weren't about to give them up just because of a little rain," Mark Schieldrop, public affairs specialist for AAA Northeast, said this week. "There's a lot of pent-up travel demand."