LYNN – The road to grandma’s house may take a little longer to get to this Thanksgiving due to more travelers choosing to hit the roads.An estimated 12.1 percent of the New England population is expected to drive to their destinations, so deciding the best time to leave in order to make it in time for your Thanksgiving feast can be a bit tricky.Mary Maguire of AAA Southern New England suggested Lynners and area drivers leave early this morning in an effort to get slightly ahead of the pack.”It’s always the best plan to leave early because by the afternoon, the travel will be extremely heavy into the evening,” she said. “The problem is that people can only leave when they can leave and some have to work today, so they’ll have to wait until the evening to leave.”Because of that, Maguire said roads will most likely be snarled, with pockets of congestion at the usual spots on the Massachusetts Turnpike and Interstates 495 and 84.With that in mind, State Police spokesman David Procopio is urging drivers to leave extra time for their travels and to make sure they wear their seatbelts to stay safe.”We are cognizant that in addition to those traveling to out of state holiday destinations, many people go out the night before Thanksgiving to meet with peers, including young people who reconnect with friends and classmates,” he said.As a result, Procopio said extra patrols will be monitoring roadways statewide starting tonight through Thursday morning along with several troopers specially trained as drug recognition experts.”In addition to acting as further additional patrols, above and beyond the extra patrols we are already running, these (drug recognition experts) will respond to scenes where motorists stopped by other troopers are suspected of being under the influence of narcotics,” he said.Last year, 37.9 million Americans traveled during the Thanksgiving holiday, and according to AAA, the number of people projected to travel for this year’s holiday will increase by 11.4 percent, with nearly 42.2 million travelers driving at least 50 miles away from home.Maguire suggests all drivers check the forecast before taking off on their journeys and also to make sure their vehicle is travel ready.”Right now, it looks really good for today’s travel with dry and cloudy conditions,” she said. “We’re expecting the highest year of auto travel that we’ve ever had for the holiday, so it’s important for people to make sure their car is in proper working condition before they get on the road.”Maguire offered a few tips for drivers such as making sure all fluids are topped off, checking tires for the right pressure and having jumper cables, flares, blankets and a cellular phone on hand for emergency calls.But, just in case something goes wrong, Maguire said AAA will be there to help.”We’re always ready to handle increased volume, so we’ll have a fully staffed call center to meet the needs of drivers that can crop up with heavy traffic,” she said.According to AAA, air travel is expected to account for 4 percent of overall travel with 1.62 million holiday flyers, an increase of 3.5 percent from last year’s 1.57 million flyers. Other modes of travel, including rail, bus and watercraft will account for 2 percent of all travelers.