Following a seasonal pattern, AAA reports gas prices hit the highest point of the year so far entering Memorial Day weekend, at a national average of $2.28 per gallon for regular gas, up from around just $2 in January.
In context, that’s better news than it appears. At just $2.28, that’s the lowest Memorial Day level since 2005. And if the pattern for the last few years repeats itself, gas prices should peak around now for the year and start to decline again, except for a likely bump at Labor Day, according to AAA data.
Not coincidentally, maybe, AAA projected that the 2016 Memorial Day holiday weekend would also be the second-largest Memorial Day travel weekend since 2005, the last time gas prices were so low.
AAA said that as of May 23 the nation’s Top 5 most expensive states are: California ($2.80), Hawaii ($2.66), Washington ($2.59), Alaska ($2.58) and Nevada ($2.49). The Top 5 least-expensive states are: Mississippi ($2.05), South Carolina ($2.06), Arkansas ($2.06), Texas ($2.07) and Missouri ($2.07).
More than 38 million Americans were expected to travel this past weekend, although they weren’t all expected to drive. AAA estimated that 89 percent would drive to their weekend destinations, up 2.1 percentage points from a year ago.
With low gas prices and all that driving going on, the Federal Highway Administration reports that its closely watched Vehicle Miles Traveled statistic is on the rise again, too. That’s a vital statistic for the FHWA. Most of its budget for highway maintenance comes from gas taxes, so if VMT goes down, FHWA funds go down, too.
High gas prices and price volatility, tight credit, a slow economy, and a dramatic drop in new-vehicle sales prompted VMT to fall in 2008, reversing a long, long-term trend towards growth.
VMT slowly recovered from 2010 though 2014, but it didn’t regain the pre-recession level until last year.
