MILWAUKEE — As you’re traveling out this weekend, you might notice some more vehicles on the roadways for Labor Day weekend. And drivers can anticipate spending more money at the pumps. According to GasBuddy, a website that tracks gas prices, the cost of gas has increased, primarily due to Hurricane Ida.
“So refineries may not be able to get back online for some time until electricity is restored," said Patrick De Haan, Head Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy.
The price has risen about five cents this week. Right now, the average price of gas in Milwaukee sits at $3.01 a gallon for regular unleaded. De Haan said gas prices typically fall around Labor Day unless there is an extreme weather event.
“The last time this happened was Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Of course, Hurricane Katrina the same time in 2005, so it's not uncommon to see prices going up ahead of Labor Day because of hurricanes. But that's generally the only reason,” said De Haan.
Although it’s hard to predict what Labor Day travel will look like due to the ongoing pandemic and the delta variant, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation is putting a pause on construction projects to help open all lanes of travel.
Molly Hart with AAA Wisconsin said as you travel out this weekend, have a plan in place and stay up to date on COVID-19 protocols.
"As we experienced in the last year with COVID-19, there have been many changes in the way that we travel. We highly encourage you to bring the extra hand sanitizer and those masks, “ said Hart.
