Gas-pump

Gas prices are at their lowest level in three years this Thanksgiving.

You’ll be paying the lowest prices to gas up and go to grandma’s in the last three years this Thanksgiving — with the average price of gas sitting at $3.08 a gallon. That’s 22 cents lower than average price of a gallon last year. Gail Weinholzer of Triple-A says fuel costs normally decrease for the winter season as travelers tend to fly more rather than drive. This year other factors have pushed gas prices lower. “Crude oil prices are always kind of a wild card in the mix, and then finally, this is one of the few years we haven’t had a significant disruption for at least a short period of time for hurricanes in the gulf region,” Weinholzer explains.While it will cost you less to fill up, you probably also won’t see long lines at the pumps.  Weinholzer says the number of travelers will be down slightly because the economy is still unstable. “In our surveys nationwide people just haven’t been as optimistic about the economy recovering. They feel like it’s not recovery as quickly as they planned or as much as they would hope,” Weinholzer says.

Many areas of the state are selling ethanol-blended gas below three dollars a gallon.