BATON ROUGE — For millions of people hitting the road this holiday season, the journey is as much a part of the celebration as the destination. For Hannah Figueroa, that journey began before sunrise — and quickly turned into a test of patience.

Figueroa woke up at 4 a.m. to begin a nearly 12-hour drive from Alabama to Houston, with a planned stop in Baton Rouge. She hoped the early start would help her avoid traffic. Instead, she found herself crawling through long stretches of road construction across south Louisiana.

“We woke up at 4 a.m. to come here, and the reason we woke up at 4 a.m. is because of the traffic and the long drive,” Figueroa said.

What she didn’t expect was just how much construction would slow things down. Orange cones narrowed lanes for miles, trapping drivers in tight corridors and forcing traffic well below the posted speed limit.

“It was like cones and cones, so we were trapped in on cones,” Figueroa said. “I was so scared. I was sitting up to my steering wheel, and it was moving so slow. The speed limit was 70 and everyone was going 45.”

According to AAA, Figueroa’s experience is far from unusual. More than 100 million Americans are expected to travel by car during the holiday season, and many will encounter construction zones along major highways.

“Still talking about overall 109 million people traveling on the road through their cars, so anticipate there to be congestion,” said Don Redman, a spokesperson for AAA.

In Louisiana, AAA urges drivers to plan for delays along heavily traveled routes, including Interstate 10 through Baton Rouge, Interstate 12 between Hammond and Covington, and Interstate 55 north of Tangipahoa.

“Whether you’re going north, east or west, you certainly are going to run into construction,” Redman said.

AAA also reminds drivers that work-zone rules apply even when crews are not visible. Those seemingly quiet construction areas can be among the most dangerous, Redman said.

“That’s where we see the most deadly crashes occurring when no one is present,” he said. “People are in a rush and not paying attention to the fact that when the signs say uneven roadway, they’re telling you to slow down.”

For drivers like Figueroa, the advice is simple: expect delays, slow down in work zones and leave early.

During the holidays, AAA says, arriving safely matters far more than arriving on time.