RACINE COUNTY, Wisc. — Memorial Day Weekend drivers in Southeastern Wisconsin can prepare to pay more for gas after a refinery fire outside Chicago reduced supply in the region.
Thursday the average in the Milwaukee-Waukesha metro area was $3.67. Last week it was $3.44.
TMJ4’s Tahleel Mohieldin spoke with travelers in Racine County who said they were taken aback by the cost. The gas at several gas stations near Interstate 41 was $3.99 a gallon.
Thursday Becky Allen and her husband were in the area visiting family after making the trip from Kansas. For Allen watching the numbers go up at the pump it was clear they weren’t in Kansas anymore.
"It's going to be a challenge on this trip,” Allen said. “When I left home on the 21st I paid $2.86.” She also said as senior citizens on a fixed income the spike hits them harder.
It wasn’t just out-of-state visitors feeling the impact. One woman at the pump originally from Marinette County told Mohieldin that she purposefully held off on filling her tank, pouring just enough to get by.
"I did stop a couple of exits back and we were gonna get gas and it was four dollars. We thought that was just a fluke,” she recalled, "but it looks like it's all over."
Before making the trip to visit a friend in southeast Wisconsin, she paid $3.13 a gallon in Marinette County.
The refinery fire has also affected neighboring counties in Illinois and Indiana while nationally the average gas price is trending down, according to gasbuddy.com.
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