Thousands of New Jersey residents are heading south on the Garden State Parkway on their way to the Jersey Shore for the Fourth of July holiday.

AAA says that Thursday afternoon was one of the worst times to be out on the road due to the amount of traffic that was expected.

The Shore is the place to be this holiday. New Jersey has had some lousy weekend weather most of this season, but the promise of a sunny three-day weekend has folks grabbing their sunscreen and hitting their favorite beach.

Most of the people that News 12 spoke with at some of the state’s rest areas were mostly in good spirits, despite the traffic. They said they hoped that the worst of it was behind them. Thursday morning report from News 12's Tony Caputo