Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 23, 1994                   TAG: 9406280007
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MELISSA CURTIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HITTING THE ROAD? IT'LL COST YOU MORE

The American Automobile Association reports that the national average price of self-serve regular unleaded gas, $1.115 a gallon, is about even with a year ago. But some Roanoke Valley gas station owners believe travelers will be shelling out more cash this summer to fill their tanks.

The price of gasoline will "go up again this week," said Bob VanDyke, owner of Airport Exxon on Hershberger Road. "Oil company prices go up every other day, it seems like. I will be shocked if it does not."

VanDyke said the oil companies' gas prices have increased more than 4 cents a gallon in the last month and probably will continue to climb throughout the summer. He attributes the price increases to greater demand at the beginning of the summer vacation season and the larger number of cars on the road.

Ron Hare, vice president of Petroleum Marketers Inc., a Roanoke wholesaler, said he thinks gas prices will reach a peak in the next two weeks. After that, he predicted a "downward trend" of a couple of cents per gallon. But before that happens, Hare said, prices will have to go up in order to cover increases in costs.

Randy Green, AAA spokesman, said the usual trend is for gas prices to increase steadily from late March through the Fourth of July holiday.

"Supply and demand drives that because of the summer vacation season," Green said. "After the Fourth, prices will level off and remain steady."

In the Roanoke area, an informal survey showed prices for self-serve unleaded gas ranged from $1.039 for a gallon of regular to $1.559 for a gallon of premium.