As motorists plan to hit the road to celebrate Independence Day, a slight ease at the pump is underway nationwide.

Stephanie Milani, public affairs director for AAA – The Auto Club Group, told the Elizabethton Star Thursday that the country, and state, have experienced a bit of a decline for gas prices leading into the holiday travel period.

“We’ve seen gas prices decline over the past week,” Milani said. “In Tennessee, we’ve seen the average drop from $2.62 to $2.58. Any time you can have gas prices drop before a holiday travel period, it is a good thing to see.”

While there’s a slight drop in prices, Milani indicated that prices are several cents higher compared to 2017.

“Between the national and state average from last year, we’ve seen an increase around 58 to 60 cents,” Milani said.

Working with AAA officials in Florida, Milani noted that there could be some volatile at the pump due to an increase in crude oil prices as the holiday season looms closer.

GasBuddy provided information to the Elizabethton Star Thursday that shows a price jump could be on the horizon due to crude oil prices.

“The difference may not seem significant given that current gas prices are below the peak of $2.98 per gallon hit in May, but over the first four days of July, gas purchases will cost motorists $1.02 billion more than last year. Even with high gas prices, however, most motorists aren’t likely to curtail their travel during the most popular summer holiday, due to its appeal and rich tradition celebrating the nation’s birthday,” GasBuddy said in a release.

It’s a wait-and-see mentality moving forward, according to Milani, due to the uncertainty of trends of the crude oil prices. At this point, the spokesperson said, AAA isn’t expecting holiday travel to be impacted due to the costs.

But to assist in preparation, residents have a variety of tools available to stay up to date on gas prices. Along with their website, AAA has a mobile app for phones, tablets and computers that can be used to find out gas prices of local stations.

Another tool the public can use, according to Milani, is a projection tool for how much a trip will cost. Individuals can visit gasprices.aaa.com to chart their drive to learn how much of a cost they can see from travel.

Visit www.autoclubsouth.aaa.com to learn more about the trend of gas prices in the state and across the Southeast.