Gas prices come down before Thanksgiving weekend

By Jim Hagerty
Staff Writer

Local drivers are seeing lower gas prices than a week ago, prompting some to fill up before the Thanksgiving weekend.

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas hovered around $2.94 Monday morning, Nov. 22, down approximately 3 cents from last week. Over the weekend, local prices ranged from $2.79 to $2.89, according to RockfordGasPrices.com.

Current local prices are approximately 6 cents higher than the national average.

According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), 42.2 million people will drive at least 50 miles between Wednesday, Nov. 24 and Sunday, Nov. 28, marking the most-traveled period of the year. The estimate is up 11.4 percent from 2009.

The 2010 increase is 30 percent below 2005’s mark of 58 million Thanksgiving weekend drivers.

Spokesmen at the AAA said the increase in travelers is a sign the economy is stabilizing and that weekly gas prices will continue to depend on how the crude oil market closes every Friday.

Local prices are still averaging about 30 to 35 cents higher than they were at this time last year. In most markets like Rockford, per gallon tallies are expected to remain just below $3 throughout the Thanksgiving weekend.

As of press time, the 10 states with the cheapest gas were Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and South Carolina.

Illinois was among the most expensive states, however, came in about 55 cents cheaper than leader, Hawaii, where pump prices were just more than $3.53 for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel.