By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON — Gas prices are still above $3 a gallon, but not as far above this week.
"We polled some Kansas drivers this month and of those who said they are not planning to travel this Thanksgiving, 26% said that gas prices did play a role in their decision not to travel," said Shawn Steward with AAA Kansas. Most Kansans still are paying less than much of the country.
"The national average is $3.41 a gallon," Steward said. "Kansas is still in good shape, 31 cents less than the national average. That puts us at 6th cheapest in the U.S."
The fundamentals are still hard to pin down, even as we get closer to holiday travel.
"Demand generally, this time of year, has started to decrease," Steward said. "But, in the most recent weekly report, we saw a slight increase in gas demand. You'd expect that quite a few people are going to be traveling for the holiday weekend coming up, so you would expect demand to be fairly strong again this week. That, coupled with the high crude oil prices that we continue to see, that's keeping prices elevated when we go to fill up at the pumps."
The least expensive state in the nation, Oklahoma, still has average gas prices above $3 a gallon at $3.02 as of Friday.