AAA: Drivers to Pay Lowest Thanksgiving Gas Prices Since 2008

Ohio, Oklahoma, Alabama, and SC round out the top five for lowest gas prices in the country.

A gradually recovering economy and lower gas prices mean more people than ever are traveling for Thanksgiving 2015, which means travelers can look forward to crowded airports and congested highways this year.

Most of the travelers, almost 90 percent, are going by auto which is the best and cheapest solution since they will be paying about $2.15 per gallon.

Schimmer says that low gas prices are one of the reasons that travel is up.

The state gasoline tax, in particular, pushes the price here higher than the national average of $2.07 a gallon.

To help combat this problem, AAA encourages people to avoid driving on Wednesday, November 25 and Sunday, November 29 because they expect the heaviest traffic on those days.

The statewide average for a gallon of regular unleaded is $2.08, down 72 cents from this time a year ago.

Millions of passengers will be packing onto planes to kick off the holiday travel season. Little Rock’s Clinton National Airport projects close to a 3 percent increase over previous year.

According to AAA, travel by other modes of transportation – cruises, trains and buses – will decrease this year by 0.1 percent, to an estimated 1.4 million travelers this Thanksgiving.

This is the highest total holiday travel numbers since 2007, and of those people traveling, 3.6 million are expected to fly, the highest number since 2008.

Roads and airports will soon be jam-packed with this Thanksgiving travel period expected to be the busiest in eight years. Between now and Christmas, low gas prices will put between $50 and $75 back into the pockets of average drivers compared to past year, Kloza said.

“Make sure your vehicle is well maintained before you hit the road, make sure your tire pressure is good, and you have a good life on your battery”, Ottinger said.