Drop at the pump for the holiday
Santa Clarita Valley residents to see lower gas prices during Fourth of July week
Santa Clarita gas prices will be much lower than previous months for the July 4 holiday that is projected to see record travel numbers, according to the Auto Club of Southern California.
Filling your car up within Santa Clarita city limits will cost anywhere from $3.49 to $4.09 a gallon, said Marie Montgomery, the Auto Club spokeswoman.
“It probably won’t change too much in the next few days,” she said. “(Prices) will probably stay about a dime lower than the peak price, which was reached at Memorial Day.”
This year, 3.4 million Southern California residents are expected to travel over the July 4 holiday period, which is any trip taken between Tuesday and Sunday, according to the Auto Club. The new travel record beats the previous set over Memorial Day weekend, which saw 3.21 million trips.
Gas prices peaked at about $3.75 a gallon on average in Los Angeles County in late May — the highest they’ve been in the area in recent years.
They’ve gone down since. Southern California gas prices have now overall dropped by about a dime from their peak levels on Memorial Day.
Last year’s July 4 holiday saw gas prices that were 75 cents less than this year’s, Montgomery said.
The retail statewide average is $3.66 a gallon for regular unleaded, 3 cents lower than last Thursday.
Nationally, nearly 47 million travelers are expected to get away for the Fourth of July, with many expected to take advantage of the midweek holiday to travel on a longer vacation that includes the weekend before and/or the weekend after the holiday. That is also an all-time record for the holiday and a 5.3 percent increase from last year.
California’s prices are the second highest on average in the country just behind Hawaii, whose fuel prices have been on a slight decline over the last month. The Legislature approved a statewide raise to the excise tax by $0.12 per gallon over 10 years in 2017.