Aaa Mid Atlantic

Traveling on Interstate 95 for the Thanksgiving holiday? Good luck with that plan. Here's a little advice from someone who knows: Leave now. Yes, I mean right now. Drop whatever you're doing, throw the suitcases in the car, and go. Sure, I know it's only Monday and you might be one of the lucky ones who still has a job to go to. And I know Turkey Day isn't until Thursday. But by tomorrow, traffic on I-95 will already be building to ridiculous levels. By Wednesday, it'll be a traffic-choked nightmare up and down the East Coast.

What many Baltimore-area drivers have been experiencing this week is now official: The average price of gasoline is under $3. AAA Mid-Atlantic reported yesterday that the average price of regular gas in the Baltimore region dropped to $2.97 from $3.02 Thursday. The statewide average, propped up by higher prices in the Washington suburbs, remains barely above the three-buck line at $3.01. If current trends continue, that average would slip below $3 this weekend. As of last night, some of lowest gas prices in the Baltimore area were spotted in Essex, Reisterstown and Glen Burnie, where regular fuel sold for $2.79 a gallon at a Liberty station, according to marylandgasprices.

As gas wholesalers and Baltimore-area service stations continue to deal with the fallout caused by Hurricane Ike, consumers were faced yesterday with widely ranging prices as they filled up their tanks, from $4.15 at one location in Govans to $3.57 at another stop in Baltimore. Industry analysts say the wide range in pump prices can likely be attributed to problems caused by a temporary shutdown of a major fuel pipeline, which might have affected some companies more than others. The average price of a gallon of gas in Maryland shot up 17 cents over the weekend, to $3.69 as of yesterday, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.

June Jordan usually flies when she goes to visit family in South Carolina. But when she saw how high air fares have climbed, she decided - for the first time - to take the train from Baltimore's Penn Station to Columbia. True, her Amtrak train would take 10 hours, getting her in at a sleepy 1:47 this morning. But Jordan, 66, had snacks, water and a Danielle Steel romance to keep her company. With a senior discount, she saved more than $200 by taking the train. "Airfare is too expensive," said Jordan's daughter, Sandy Scheuerman, who bought the $140 train ticket for her mother and was dropping her off at the station.

Banking and finance * SunTrust Bank Mid-Atlantic named A. David Horsman as group manager for commercial real estate in Virginia, Washington and Maryland. * The Columbia Bank appointed David L. Wheeler as senior vice president of branch banking for the Howard County-based institution. He is responsible for the daily operations of 15 branch offices in four counties. * Merrill Lynch & Co. appointed Ryan C.A. Kirby as associate resident director of its Salisbury office. Insurance * AAA Mid-Atlantic selected Donald R. Gagnon as chief executive officer of AAA Mid-Atlantic and the AAA Mid-Atlantic Insurance Co. Professional services * Frederick Ward Associates said Chuck Cooper has joined the architectural division of the Bel Air firm as a senior project manager.

It was a monster fill for Marc Fischer's Ford Excursion. When the pump came to a halt yesterday at a Columbia Exxon gas station, the bill was a whopper: $91.61. And it might continue to grow. The price of a gallon of regular gasoline reached an average of $2.93 yesterday in Maryland - a 28-cent jump over last month, according to AAA statistics. Nationally, the average price of a gallon of gas is $2.95. While prices are down slightly from the statewide average of $3.02 at this time last year, increases are expected to continue, analysts say, as demand for gasoline rises during the busy summer months - from Memorial Day to Labor Day - when Americans traditionally take to the roads in high numbers.

Marylanders heading off to visit loved ones encountered heavy, but not unbearable, traffic on most state roadways -- and weather that left a lot to be desired as heavy rain made for a soggy Thanksgiving Eve. During the evening rush, traffic on the Bay Bridge was especially heavy because of several minor accidents and the inability of officials to open a third lane for eastbound traffic, said Lindsay Reilly, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Transportation Authority....

Travelers on the roadways on the last day of the Labor Day weekend had a relatively smooth trip, transportation officials said yesterday - possibly because rainy weather prompted many people to stay home. There were no major backups in either direction on the Bay Bridge yesterday, said Lindsay Reilly, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Transportation Authority. "All in all it was pretty quiet," she said. "It may be because of the weather - maybe people changed their travel plans." The State Highway Administration suspended construction throughout Maryland for the weekend, said spokesman Chuck Gischlar.

There have been bigger corporate welfare deals than the one that lured AAA Mid-Atlantic to Delaware. There have been worse deals, and deals negotiated with less disclosure. But rarely are "economic-development incentives" chronicled with the attention that New Jersey Policy Perspective has devoted to the $7 million-plus that lured more than 600 AAA jobs to Delaware from Pennsylvania and Maryland. The liberal policy group's new analysis is a revealing study of how companies play the interstate job-jealousy game, sap tax revenue and contribute nothing extra to the national economy.

When gas prices hit $3 last week, Baltimore resident Michael Baker had second thoughts about traveling to New York City for a family gathering. But, heck, Labor Day is the last holiday of the summer, and Baker figured he might as well enjoy the long weekend before "things get hectic." So he and his siblings took a two-car caravan to Brooklyn, despite the higher-than-ever gasoline prices looming over their trip. "What option did we have - ride a bicycle or a scooter to New York City?" said Baker, 23, as he took a driving break yesterday morning at the Chesapeake House rest area along Interstate 95 in North East.