If AAA's newly released projections end up being correct, more than 2 million New England residents will travel at least 50 miles this weekend, with the vast majority expected to use their cars.

According to AAA, the 2.2 million residents are part of a record-breaking 43 million people expected to travel over the July 4th weekend, which AAA defines as lasting from Thursday through Monday.

"Driven by the lowest gas prices since 2005, Americans are traveling with an enthusiasm we haven't seen in years," AAA spokesman Amy Parmenter said in a news release. "We are certainly on pace for a record-setting summer."

The national average price for a gallon of gasoline, $2.31, is almost 50 cents lower than one year ago, the news release notes.

Of the 2.2 million New England travelers, almost 2 million will be driving, according to AAA.

In preparation, and as it does for all major holidays, the state Department of Transportation will cease all construction activity that could have any impact on travel lanes through the weekend, according to spokesman Kevin Nursick.

The temporary construction lull, he said, will begin Friday at 6 a.m. and end July 5 at 8 p.m.

"Obviously, that is to ensure that we are not creating or otherwise contributing to traffic congestion during busy holiday travel timeframes," Nursick said.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which pulls its data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, July 4 was the country's deadliest day in terms of crashes in the five-year span from 2010 through 2014.

In total, there were 592 fatalities throughout the country on that day, or about 118 per year.

Only Jan. 1, with 591 fatalities over the five years, had a similarly high fatality rate.

In 2014, an average of 89 people died in crashes each day.

For their part, state police this weekend will ramp up enforcement in an attempt to keep the number of crashes to a minimum.

According to state police, there were 170 crashes in Connecticut from July 3 through July 5 last year. Of those, 48 caused injuries and two were fatal.

During their holiday enforcement last year, which included increased roving patrols and sobriety checkpoints, state police arrested 33 people for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, handed out 859 speeding tickets and gave out 2,461 other hazardous moving violation tickets.

Another 156,000 New Englanders, however, are expected to fly to their destinations — a number AAA said represents a 2 percent increase over last year and is the highest for the Fourth of July since before Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

According to AAA's Leisure Travel Index, average airfares are about 9 percent less than they were at this time last year.

AAA's projections are based on economic forecasting and research by IHS Global Insight, which teamed up with AAA in 2009 to analyze travel trends during major holidays.

l.boyle@theday.com