LITTLE ROCK, Ark.– Gasoline prices in Arkansas are less than a cent from being the highest they’ve ever been, and Diesel users saw another record-breaking jump in prices Tuesday.
Diesel is at an average of $5.30 statewide. That’s up a penny from the day before. Regular unleaded gas costs an average of $3.96 a gallon. The state record is just a penny higher at $3.97 a gallon set in the summer of 2008.
However, across the capital city, there are gas stations charging over $4.00 with no sign of slowing down. It’s causing drivers’ tanks and wallets to be running on empty.
“You can’t not get gas. I’m not going to walk anywhere, especially in this heat,” Jacobe Tatro said while filling up on Main Street.
Tatro and his friend Jaylan Weatherspoon both live in Pine Bluff. Each time they pull a pump they say they are paying close to $70. In Weatherspoon’s words, “That’s a whew.”
Data from AAA shows regular gas in the Natural State has gone up nearly 25¢ in the past month, 16¢ in the last week, and more than $1.20 from last year. Robert Sinclair of AAA says most families’ budgets can’t keep up.
“Drivers as a result of these high prices, they’re driving less, they’re carpooling, they are combining errands with their commute,” Sinclair explained.
While regular gas is a cent away from a new Arkansas record high, diesel broke a record Tuesday. It’s causing Aaron Davis of Little Rock to consider charging his uncle to cut his grass.
Davis said, “It seems like every time I look up, it’s gone up 25¢, 10¢, 15¢.”
Prices are not being helped by Russia’s war in Ukraine and the cost of a barrel of oil, but with Memorial Day weekend and hurricane season around the corner, drivers hope they have enough in the tank to handle what’s ahead.
“I think it’s just going to get worse,” Tatro admitted. “If it ain’t going to slow down, it ain’t going to just plateau.”
Despite the near-record prices, drivers in Arkansas are paying the fourth lowest gas prices on average in the country, costing just a few cents more than in Georgia, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
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