Gas Prices In Tulsa Dip Below $3 Just In Time For Busy Travel Weekend

For those traveling by car, van or pickup truck this Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend you will find some good news at the gas pump in the Tulsa area.

The price of regular unleaded gasoline is now below $3 a gallon, the first time it's been that low since February 2011.

More than 42 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more for Thanksgiving this year - including 572,000 Oklahomans. That's the highest number of travelers since the start of the recession.

AAA says traveling won't be cheap, but that's not phasing Tulsa area drivers, mesmerized by gas prices below the three dollar mark.

"I can't remember the last time it's been this low. It's been a long time," said Oklahoma driver Richard Ellis.

Actually, it's been nine months. Recently, prices were slowly dropping, and then this latest dive took a lot of people by surprise.

"When I got up here and it was $3.09, I thought, ‘well that's great.' But to see it go to $2.99, that's even better," said Toney Newman, Texas Driver.

AAA-Oklahoma even had to revise the numbers it releases each week for the state average. The auto club now says Oklahoma's average is down to $3.10. Overall, the Tulsa area is averaging about $3.02.

"I just happened to look up and it was $2.99. I was like, ‘wow.' It was $3.08 before," said Blake Martin, Oklahoma Driver.

Oklahoma has the fourth lowest gas price average in the country right now. Drivers would love to see that downward trend continue.

"It wouldn't hurt my feelings if it went down a little further. As far as the traveling everyone is doing, I'm sure it was a blessing to everyone to see the price down as low as it is," Ellis said.

AAA Oklahoma expects gas prices to continue dropping through the end of the year, by as much as 15 cents lower than they are now.

Gasbuddy.com lists Tulsa, Dallas Fort Worth metro area and St. Louis in the top cities in the U.S. with cheap gas prices.

If you're flying, officials at Oklahoma's two largest airports -- in Oklahoma City and Tulsa -- reported no flight delays on Wednesday.