Average cost per gallon of gas up six cents from last week heading into Labor Day weekend

HOOVER, Ala. (WIAT) – As the holiday weekend approaches, millions of Americans will be hitting the road for one last summer vacation, but that travel will come with a slightly higher price tag. According to AAA Alabama, gas prices across the state are up.

“I remember in high school when it used to just be $1.16,” said Hoover resident Erin Hall. “I feel, like, weird because when our grandparents are like, ‘I remember when this used to be this much,’ and it’s like, well, you know, now everything’s like $1 or $2 more than it used to be.”

Hall says she’s had to keep the cost of gas in mind when budgeting each month.

“I work like 30 minutes away, so traffic on top of like, having to commute for school, it’s like everything, at least like $100-$200 goes to gas,” she said.

William Andrew Taylor says when his car reaches about a half tank of gas, he starts to keep an eye on gas stations so he can fill up at the cheapest one.

“Whatever on the signage, whatever’s posted like $2.84, and then some it’s $2.80, $2.64 and stuff like that,” he said. “But all the cheaper gas is probably not as good of quality.”

Clay Ingram with AAA Alabama says the average cost for a gallon of gas in Alabama right now is $2.82, up six cents from last week.

“That’s more than we’ve seen over the last six months, to be honest. We’ve had pretty stable gas prices pretty much all year this year,” said Ingram. “I think it’s due to the anticipated demand for labor day and for the college football season and just any time we see our demand spike like that, a lot of times we see the prices spike as well.”

But it’s not all bad news for those planning road trips for Labor Day. Ingram doesn’t think the prices will fluctuate much more throughout the holiday weekend.

“The thing to remember though is the price is actually an average. So, you’re going to see some gas stations that are 10 or 20 cents higher than the average, but you’ll also see some stations that are 10 or 20 cents a gallon less than the state average,” he said. “So, it really pays to be alert and to be aware of what the prices are out there.”

AAA has a TripTik feature online you can use to help map your travels, which you can find linked here. All you have to do is put in your start and end destinations and you’ll be able to see all of the gas stations along your route and the cost per gallon at each one.