Gas prices encourage Fourth of July travel

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- With gas prices down slightly, more Oklahomans are expected to hit the road for a Fourth of July vacation. <br/><br/>AAA Oklahoma says the price of gas in the state is down by about

Tuesday, June 22nd 2004, 2:28 pm

By: News On 6

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- With gas prices down slightly, more Oklahomans are expected to hit the road for a Fourth of July vacation.

AAA Oklahoma says the price of gas in the state is down by about 16 cents per gallon in the last month. The statewide average is about $1.75 cents per gallon, the third-lowest in the nation, behind Missouri and Ohio.

AAA is predicting more than 440,000 Oklahomans will travel by car during the holiday weekend - a 3% increase from last year.

The report also estimates more than 58,600 state residents will travel by air - a 9% increase from a year ago.

AAA estimates that a total of nearly 39.5-million Americans will travel at least 50 miles during the holiday. That's an increase of almost 3.5% from last year.