Soaring gasoline prices don’t seem to be hindering travel during this Labor Day weekend.
“We didn’t have big plans anyway. We are going over to my brother-in-law’s place in Alabama on Monday to cook out. That’s not too far,” said Rocky Face resident Bill Simms Saturday.
AAA, formerly the American Automobile Association, projects that 33 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more this weekend, up from 32.1 million last year. That would mark the highest number of Americans traveling 50 miles or more during the Labor Day weekend since 2008. It would also mark the third time that the number of Americans traveling 50 miles or more has increased from last year during a holiday. AAA reports that Memorial Day and Independence Day travel also increased this year compared to 2011.
Chattanooga resident Andre Allen had stopped at the Murphy Oil in Dalton to fill up as he traveled to Atlanta.
“I’m going to spend the weekend with my family. I probably wouldn’t have made big plans for the weekend anyway. I wanted to get home, but this is something that isn’t too expensive,” he said.
AAA reports that some 28.2 million people (85 percent of holiday travelers) will make their Labor Day holiday journey by automobile, a 3.1 percent increase from 2011.
Americans expect to travel an average distance of 626 miles during this holiday weekend, according to AAA, up slightly from last year’s average 608 miles. Despite the longer average travel distance, most holiday travelers (54 percent) will be taking shorter-distance trips, between 100 and 400 round-trip miles.
Tunnel Hill resident Bob Williams said he and his family planned to stay at home this weekend.
“I don’t like fighting the traffic anyway,” he said. “And it will save us money on gas.”
AAA reported that the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.827 Saturday, up from $3.743 a week earlier and $3.534 a month earlier.
In Georgia, the average prices for a gallon of regular unleaded was $3.847 Saturday, according to AAA, up from $3.686 a week earlier and $3.431 a month earlier.
Meanwhile, in Chattanooga, the closest metropolitan area that AAA tracks, the average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline stood at $3.602 Saturday, up from $3.486 a week earlier and $3.229 a month earlier.
“As long as they can sell it at these high prices, they will. Prices are never going to go down unless people stop driving as much and buying as much gas,” said Villanow resident Pam Ramey.
Local News
Related Photos
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Motorists fill their tanks at the RaceTrac gas station at the intersection of Shugart Road and the North Bypass. Fuel prices have been climbing recently and have hit a high mark for this time of the year. Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen
Discussion
September 2, 2012
Fuel prices up but so are travel plans
- Local News
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‘I’ve got to protect myself somehow’
A small house on Gay Street was the scene where Frank Bozzie ran over Horace Morgan with a pickup truck on June 10, according to Sheriff Scott Chitwood. (File photo by Misty Watson/The Daily Citizen)
A man police say was murdered when his attacker ran over him in his yard with a pickup truck told a 911 operator the offender broke in his house and began threatening him.
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