Gas prices continue slight downward trend ahead of July 4, still sharply elevated from year ago

Gas prices continued their modest decline over the past week ahead of the July 4 holiday, coming down from just below a $5-per-gallon average while remaining significantly higher than a year ago. 

Average national gas prices tracked by AAA put the average gallon of gas in the United States at $4.84 per gallon, down from $4.85 yesterday and $4.92 a week ago. 

Those figures, while still markedly high, are a notable decline from the record set in mid-June when gas prices topped $5 per gallon nationally for the first time in U.S. history. 

According to AAA, gas prices a year ago sat at an average of $3.12 nationally,

July 4 has historically been one of the busier travel holidays of the year, with July 3 regularly topping lists as among the busiest driving days across the board.