Travelers On Easter Weekend Brace For $4 A Gallon Gas Prices
BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- Just in time for a heavy-travel holiday weekend, gas prices hit a painful $4 a gallon in Maryland. WJZ hit the roads and found that the high cost of fuel is forcing many to change their plans.
Andrea Fujii explains why prices could soon get even higher.
Right now, Maryland is just five cents a gallon away from hitting the state's all-time high, and don't expect any relief soon.
Despite Maryland gas prices averaging $4 a gallon, travelers are driving to their holiday destinations.
But to save money, the Gorman family from New Jersey is brown bagging it at a rest stop on their way to Virginia.
"It's about $55 now and it used to cost me maybe $30 to fill up, so it's getting harder to keep up with it," Derek Gorman said.
Another New Jersey native took a smaller car on his trip to North Carolina to save gas.
"It's just under $4 in New Jersey-- pretty expensive but you gotta go, you gotta go," Sanford Brown said.
The national average for a gallon is $3.93. It hit $4 a gallon in Maryland on Thursday. One year ago, it was $3.69.
"This is the time when we see them typically creep up, but unfortunately, they've been creeping up all year so this is atypical," Ragina Averella of AAA Mid-Atlantic said.
And gas prices are only expected to go higher as refineries switch to summer fuel blends. And for drivers, that's hard news to accept.
"For people that make minimum wage, it's crazy. I mean, it's ridiculous how much it costs right now," said one.
"They're ridiculous. I have a diesel and it's killing me," said another.
East Coast prices are a bit higher than the rest of the country. That's because of the threat of a couple Northeastern refineries possibly shutting down.
Hawaii has the highest gas prices at $4.60 a gallon.
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