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May 26 (UPI) -- Retail gasoline prices on Friday were up from week-ago levels as demand increases ahead of the long Memorial Day holiday weekend, the unofficial start of the summer driving season, data show. Travel club AAA listed a national average retail price of $3.57 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline on Friday, a few cents higher than this time last week.
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AAA projects 42.3 million people will travel 50 miles or more this weekend, with 6% more road trips planned than last year as consumers take advantage of a price at the pump that's about a dollar less than this time last year.
"This is expected to be the third-busiest Memorial Day weekend since 2000, when AAA started tracking holiday travel," said Paula Twidale, a senior vice president at AAA's travel division.
Elsewhere, Patrick DeHaan, the senior petroleum analyst at Chicago-based GasBuddy, said from his Twitter account that consumer demand for road fuels is already higher than year-ago levels.
Travel monitors add that if you haven't already left for the weekend, expect heavy congestion on the highway, at bus terminals and at the airport.
Nonetheless, data show the expected amount of road trips this coming holiday weekend is actually below pre-pandemic levels. Ahead of Memorial Day in 2019, AAA said the "vast majority" of travelers in 2019 opted to hit the road, with 37.6 million travelers for the holiday -- the most on record.
Gas prices that year were around $2.80 per gallon. This year, Mississippi has the lowest state average in the nation at $3 per gallon. Because of elevated state taxes, California has the highest price in the Lower 48 at $4.83 per gallon.
The federal government expects gas prices to average $3.33 this year, down from the $3.97-per-gallon average for 2022.
