Arizonans expected to travel at near-record levels for July 4th week, gas prices keep falling

Gas prices in Arizona dropped for a fifth consecutive week, a welcome decline, analysts say, as July Fourth travel is expected to reach near-record levels.

“This is because of the ongoing negotiation talks between Iran and the United States,” AAA spokesperson Doug Johnson told KTAR News 92.3 FM of the decrease in gas prices. “Really, what we need to see for oil prices to drop back down is for a stabilization of the oil markets.”

After about 71.8 million people traveled at least 50 miles from home last July Fourth week, about 72.2 million are expected to be on the roads this year, according to AAA.

More than 1.59 million of those travelers are expected to be in Arizona. While the number of travelers is an increase from last year, it is smaller than recent year-to-year gains.

The decrease could be due to the fact that gas prices remain high, even though prices continue to fall.

The average gas price in Arizona dropped 18 cents in the last week, now down to $4.11, while the national average is $3.91.

Across the state, Tucson holds the lowest price per gallon, and Flagstaff leads the pack.

• Tucson: $3.95
• Phoenix: $3.99
• Yuma: $4.26
• Flagstaff: $4.50

“You can expect a slight uptick in demand and usually when we see a lot of people traveling, going on road trips, that usually means pump prices start to increase a little bit,” Johnson said. “But again, you had five weeks of falling prices — still higher than we were a year ago, but much lower than we were just a month ago.”

With July Fourth week on the horizon, gas demand is bound to rise. Last week, demand was down from the previous week, as was production, but supply increased, according to the Energy Information Administration.

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