Those traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday will have plenty of company out on the roads.

Over 42.5 million Americans are expected to travel by road or air this year, with many of those trips getting underway today. Pam Moen of AAA-Wisconsin says about 850,000 of those travelers will come from the Badger State.

Overall, Thanksgiving travel will be up about 4 percent over last year.

For those driving to their destination, Moen says they should see a statewide average gas price of about $3.29 a gallon. Prices are down from record high levels this summer, but are still about 40 cents higher than they were at this time last year.

While snowy weather has been holding off for most of the state so far, Moen says travelers should be ready for the return of winter. She says holiday trips provide an excellent opportunity to make sure you have an emergency kit packed, including warm blankets and extra food.

AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (1:14)

Wisconsin gets three of five stars for its measures to prevent drunk driving.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving is calling on lawmakers to require ignition interlocks for all convicted drunken drivers and legalize sobriety checkpoints in the state. A new report released by MADD rates Wisconsin on its progress of implementing drunk driving countermeasures; it shows that more needs to be done.

“The challenges that we have in Wisconsin is first we are the only state in the country that does not criminalize the first offense.” MADD Wisconsin Public Policy Liaison John Vose says as a result, there’s a lower deterrence factor for getting behind the wheel while drunk. Like Wisconsin, the nation as a whole also got three stars.

Vose says that indicates a need for increased efforts to reduce and eliminate driving while drunk. “If we’re still unable to criminalize the first offense, a very good tool that many other states use that’s not used in Wisconsin … is sobriety checkpoints.”

The state recently adopted enhanced penalties for those who drive drunk with kids in the vehicle, but MADD wants more ways to combat the practice. Vose says drunk driving costs the United States more than $132 billion annually.

NOTE: The Report to the Nation is being released in connection with the fifth anniversary of MADD’s Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving.

AUDIO: Jackie Johnson report 1:24

A national coalition makes a plea to Congress to lift the ban on building tolls. The grassroots coalition of highway construction groups wants the federal government to give states more flexibility to impose tolls on highways. Groups from nearly a dozen states point to the need for tollways to pay for highway improvements.

U.S. Tolling Coalition Co-Chairman Patrick Goss says “Whether you support or you oppose tolling the interstate system, it’s kind of a moot point right now because we can’t have that debate or discussion in a state like Wisconsin because the federal government does not allow it. So let’s fix that first and then we can decide if we want to have that debate.”

Goss, also Executive Director of the Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association, says “17% of our interstates and one quarter of our nation’s bridges are structurally deficient.” He says the gas tax is not a sustainable revenue source for transportation needs. Currently, new lanes could be tolled if the state approves it, but federal law prohibits states from building tolls on existing lanes on the interstate and some highways.

“We need Congress to say ‘yes, states, we’re gonna lift this ban’ and then Congress is done; they’re out of it. It now becomes a state issue, state by state, whether their leadership wants to move forward with tolling as an option to generate revenues.”

Under a pilot program, the U.S. Department of Transportation recently allowed Virginia and Missouri to add some tolls. Goss says Congress should allow all states to do so.

AUDIO: Jackie Johnson report 1:33