The unofficial start of the summer travel season in Alabama is expected to remain busy. That’s the word from the Alabama Triple-A which is also noting that gas prices have gone down in the state for Memorial Day. The travel group also expects a sixty percent jump in traffic compared to last year and the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Clay Ingram is the public relations manager for AAA Alabama. He said the price at the pump has gone down by three cents over the last week.
“We’re doing a lot better with gasoline availability and prices as well, believe it or not. So I think that’s a good sign of things to come. I think our prices will be kind of about where they are now, maybe a little bit less.”
Ingram said this year will likely bring significantly more traveling than last year.
“We are expecting about 37 million people travelling a distance of 50 miles or more nationwide, and that’s about a 60% increase over last year. Those numbers were way down last year of course because of COVID.”
This comes almost two weeks after the Colonial Pipeline was hacked, creating higher demand and empty gas pumps across the South. The pipeline is now fully operational.