Road travel is up during holidays as fuel prices fluctuate

Colorado residents appear to be ringing in the New Year with some time on the road.

The ever-fluctuating prices at the gas pump aren’t expected to affect travel this weekend across Colorado. Travel experts are calling for roadways on Sunday and Monday to be “very busy” with people returning from their holiday vacations.

Already, travel this holiday season — regarded as Dec. 23 through Monday — is up 2 percent from last year, said Wave Dreher, a AAA Colorado spokesman.

That’s despite gas costing an average of 27 cents more than last year in Colorado Springs.

“That tug to be with family and friends is stronger than gas prices,” Dreher said.
Nationally, demand for gas has been down the last couple months, she said. The difference has been felt at the pumps.

Gas prices fell to an average $3.03 on Friday, down from $3.08 from a week ago and $3.31 on Nov. 29. (To track the lowest prices in the Colorado Springs area, go to www.gazette.com/gaswatch .)

That could change soon, Dreher warned. A 45-cent subsidy on ethanol is expected to end at the beginning of the year — likely meaning higher gas prices, especially for E85 fuel.

For the time being, motorists should expect a lot of company on the roadways.

About 31,000 motorists are expected to be on Interstate 70 on the stretch from Denver west to Summit County this weekend. The record weekend traffic on that stretch of I-70 is 45,000, said Stacey Stegman, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Looking for lighter traffic on a trip to snow country?

Monarch Mountain, near Salida, had its busiest day of the season Wednesday, bringing in 3,400 skiers. That dropped to about 2,900 on Thursday.

“It will keep trickling down. New Year’s Day it will be pretty quiet around here,” said Greg Ralph, spokesman for Monarch Mountain.

The economical choice might just be to stay in Colorado Springs, which boasts some of the lowest gas prices in the state, Dreher said. Only Denver and the Fort Collins/Loveland area have lower gas prices, according to a report by AAA.

“It’s just a story of supply and demand — fewer people driving and a lot of gas supplies into the system right now,” Dreher said.

Reporter Ryan Maye Handy contributed to this report.

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