Gas Jumps 10 Cents over Memorial Day Holiday

May 26, 2008
Gasoline prices continued their rise to new highs, jumping a dime a gallon over the Memorial Day weekend.

Ten states and the District of Columbia now suffer from an average gasoline price for regular self-serve above the $4 mark.

The average price throughout the U.S. for regular is now $3.936. Mid-grade gasoline sells for an average of $4.181 and premium $4.330.

Diesel costs a whopping average price of $4.765 a gallon.

One month ago regular gasoline sold for $3.591 a gallon and one year ago a gallon sold for $3.212.

The U.S. Department of Transportation reported that the burdensome gasoline prices have kept U.S. consumers off the highways in record numbers.

The government figures are from March when a gallon of regular cost 37 cents less than now and they show the steepest decrease in driving ever recorded in the U.S.

Compared to March of 2007, consumer driving declined 4.3 percent or 11 billion miles, the sharpest yearly drop for any month in history, according to a news release from the Federal Highway Administration.

The agency has kept records since 1942.

Here is the list of states where the cost of gasoline now exceeds $4 a gallon, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report.