AASHTO Journal, 2 October 2015
With motor fuel prices continuing to come down at retail pumps across the nation, the AAA motor club reports that at least five states already have average statewide pump prices for gasoline below $2 a gallon while several more are just above that level.
AAA said that as of Sept. 27 average gas prices were below $2 in Alabama, Mississippi, New Jersey, South Carolina and Tennessee.
These are the lowest prices for this time of year since 2004, the AAA’s daily fuel tracker report has said, and consumers nationwide are saving about $1 a gallon or more from what they paid at the pump at the same time just one year ago.
AAA also says the nation’s gasoline market is currently overstocked, so even as refineries taper off production for autumn maintenance the price is not expected to rise much if at all in coming months.
All of this comes when many states have been trying to inject more funds into highway, bridge and transit improvements to keep up with demand and clear away a backlog of projects to update outmoded infrastructure. Some have legislated increases in motor fuel prices among their revenue-raising measures, but the market prices have declined despite some excise fee hikes as fuel market trends more than absorbed state increases.
Besides the five states AAA said had below-$2 gasoline, it listed a number of others across a wide geographical region where the pump prices were just one to three cents higher. As of Sept. 27 those included Delaware, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Florida, Virginia, Texas, Missouri, Minnesota and others.
AAA said the national average pump price that day was about $2.29 a gallon, down from $3.34 on Sept. 27, 2014. http://www.fuelgaugereport.com