Former Hurricane Harvey is driving up gasoline prices in Arkansas and elsewhere as motorists hit the highways for Labor Day weekend, and pump prices are expected to continue rising even after the holiday.
Better news for Arkansas is that rain from the remnants of Harvey should move out of the state by Friday, and skies will be mostly sunny through Labor Day across the South and Midwest, according to the National Weather Service's weekend forecast.
The average price for regular unleaded gasoline in Arkansas was $2.17 a gallon Wednesday, up 7 cents from a week ago, with the potential to go as high as $2.40 a gallon next week, said Don Redman, public affairs specialist for the AAA travel club in New Orleans. The national average Wednesday was $2.40 per gallon, up 6 cents from a week ago.
"We certainly expect it to increase and could increase by as much as another 21 cents or so per gallon," Redman said Wednesday about Arkansas gas prices. "The $2.40 figure is a rough estimate. We expect the peak to come quickly after the holiday, yet the price to come back down in mid- to late September.
"We still don't know the extent of damage at Houston and Beaumont," Redman said, referring to oil refineries shut down during Harvey, which hit the Texas Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane Saturday. Harvey soon became a tropical storm and drenched the area with days of rain, causing widespread, catastrophic flooding. "Certainly we can expect prices to go up, but not to last very long," Redman said.
Gas prices for Arkansans are about the same as they were at the start of the holiday weekend in 2015 but are about 11 cents higher than last year, according to AAA statistics.
Travelers can find gas price information along their routes using a free AAA mobile app, at AAA.com/mobile, that can be used to map a route, book a hotel or access AAA roadside assistance.
A just-unveiled feature from the state Department of Transportation also is likely to help travelers and daily commuters. The agency's idrivearkansas.com travel information site activated a network of traffic cameras Tuesday showing heavily traveled points along state highways. The site previously showed traffic and travel conditions on color-coded maps, but the cameras now provide real-time traffic views.
"Our intention was to roll these out before the Labor Day weekend started," said Danny Straessle, the agency's public affairs director. "So far, everything's looked good."
The public put the live cameras to the test Wednesday, when a tractor-trailer rig turned over on Interstate 30 near downtown Little Rock just before morning rush hour, blocking two eastbound lanes into the city and backing up traffic for miles for hours.
The live cameras allowed viewers to see what was causing the traffic to back up, Straessle said. They also could see the truck being moved off the highway and then its contents being unloaded, he said.
"Really, this is a great opportunity to see what it really takes to address an accident of this magnitude," Straessle said. "If someone had looked at it early on, they would have seen the tractor-trailer across the two eastbound lanes there. It gives motorists the ability to see what's causing a backup and then make an informed decision on navigating the highway system.
"It's one thing to show a color-coded highway map, but it's completely different to show a video of the reason why there is a traffic backup," he said.
While Harvey brought some rain to the state Wednesday, its shift eastward means skies will be mostly clear over the holiday weekend, said Heather Cross, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.
"So it should be a beautiful weekend, and people can get out and enjoy the nice weather," Cross said. "We should be able to get some of that sunshine in."
Temperatures will be in the 80s across most of the state, with the northern portion seeing highs in the 70s Friday and Saturday, she said. Temperatures will creep up Sunday and Monday, she said, but are still likely to stay below 90 degrees. Overnight lows will be mostly in the 60s.
In addition to seeing sunny skies, people traveling throughout Arkansas this weekend are likely to see sobriety checkpoints.
Drunken driving is more likely over holiday weekends, and the typical Labor Day holiday period is among the deadliest for travel on Arkansas highways, according to the Arkansas State Police.
Nationwide, 10,265 deaths were attributed to drunken-driving accidents in 2015, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. During the Labor Day holiday period in 2015, there were 460 fatal crashes nationwide, with 40 percent of those involving drivers who had been drinking, according to those statistics.
Through Monday, Arkansas State Police troopers on patrol will specifically watch for drunken drivers in an aggressive enforcement effort that's part of the national Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign designed to save lives, according to a state police news release.
"Zero tolerance for drunk driving is the standing order for our troopers," said Col. Bill Bryant, director of the state police. "With additional sobriety checkpoints planned across the state and an increased number of troopers and other officers on the roads, we want to ensure safe traveling for Arkansans and out-of-state visitors."
Central Arkansas is expecting its fair share of visitors for the holiday weekend.
Recreational vehicle parks in North Little Rock's Burns Park and the city-managed Downtown Riverside RV Park just off the Interstate 30 Arkansas River bridge expect to be "pretty full all weekend," said Bob Major, executive director of the North Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission.
Burns Park has 35 RV sites and two tent sites. The downtown RV park has 70 sites, including overflow, with eight spots open as of Wednesday but only for single-night stays, Major said.
"They're basically full downtown," Major said. "A spot on Friday night or a Saturday night may be open. Those will fill up with drop-ins. We figure we'll be totally full there this weekend."
For anyone traveling through central Arkansas on Interstate 40, the North Little Rock Visitors Center in Burns Park, off Exit 150, will be open for the entire three-day weekend from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. to provide free maps and visitor information, Major said.
Travelers with flights in or out of Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field in Little Rock can contact their respective airlines for up-to-date flight information, according to an airport spokesman.
Metro on 08/31/2017