Almost one million Washington-area residents will head out of town for the long Fourth of July weekend, although higher gasoline prices will keep more people home this year. With the cost of regular gas just below $4 per gallon in the Washington area, automobile travel will fall an estimated 3 percent over the holiday weekend from June 30 to July 4, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.

Jesse Segal, a Bethesda native who is taking summer classes at Penn State University, said he is regretting his choice of car: a 1999 Dodge Durango that gets 11 mpg.