Over the upcoming holiday weekend, more than 46 million Americans are expected to travel around Thanksgiving. This estimated number is 4.2 percent higher than last year's millions of travelers and the overall highest projection since 2007 immediately before the recession.

AAA is predicting that more than 90 percent of these people will be driving, most between Wednesday and Sunday.

"Thanksgiving is traditionally a family-focused holiday," Jim Lehman, President of AAA East Central, said in a recent statement. "Our survey shows that Americans are definitely planning to take advantage of the opportunity to spend time together with family and close friends during the Thanksgiving holiday."

Projections of long-range driving trips from an Internet-based GasBuddy survey said found that a large portion of families were planning on driving round trips of 500 miles or more. Despite most of the 81,000 members on GasBuddy who provided answers about their holiday travel plans saying gas prices were not a factor in their planning, some sis day the lower gasoline prices did lessen the burden of holiday expenses. The national average price per gallon of gasoline has fallen well below $3 a gallon. This dip hasn't been this low in price since December 2010.

"Americans are more optimistic about the future as improvements in several key economic factors, including employment, GDP and disposable income, are boosting consumer confidence and the desire to travel," AAA chief operating officer Marshall Doney said. He added that "lower prices are increasing disposable income and enabling families to carve out more money from household budgets for travel this Thanksgiving."

Despite the promising economic boost from extra cash staying in American wallets, traffic will be even busier in past years leading up to Turkey Day. Experts advise travelers leaving the Wednesday before thanksgiving to plan to leave an additional two hours earlier to reach their destination. Traveling between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. will likely see the worst delays in rush hour.