(CBS DETROIT) – Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer.
As families pack up for their last road trip of the season, AAA Michigan says the demand for gasoline is expected to rise, and so are the prices.
“Labor Day holiday weekend is the third busiest summer travel weekend of the summer and is third behind Independence Day and Memorial Day,” said AAA Auto Club Group Spokesperson Adrienne Woodland.
“So, travelers should certainly expect more busier roads than usual.”
The auto club reports three key factors that will affect the costs of gasoline.
“Number one the price of crude oil and then the other two are demand for gasoline, along with the availability of supply of gasoline,” Woodland.
In the Midwest region, a refinery fire in Indiana is also constricting the availability of crude oil.
“So we expect the refinery fire will likely cause the supplies to tighten in the impacted areas, which Michigan is one of those areas and it will lead to some fluctuation in prices as we head into Labor Day weekend and add that to the increase demand for gasoline,” Woodland said.
Although gas prices have seen a steady downward trend over the last 10 weeks, the costs per gallon still ranks the highest Labor Day weekend prices since 2012.
“The Michigan State average is currently $3. 85 a gallon for regular unleaded and that’s actually up a couple of cents within the last couple of days or so,” woodland said.
“It’s still down you know, week over week, but that price has slowly increased over the last couple of days. For Metro-Detroit, the price is $3.98 for regular unleaded. So, we’re more than likely seeing an increase in demand as we’re heading into Labor Day and that certainly can affect prices.”
