{"id":426169,"date":"2026-09-04T15:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/426169\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T15:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:04:17","slug":"austin-diesel-hits-record-5-51-as-aus-enters-peak-labor-day-travel-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/426169\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin diesel hits record $5.51 as AUS enters peak Labor Day travel day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Travelers heading out for Labor Day are facing a costly and potentially delayed start, with record fuel prices and an early morning incident near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport expected to snarl traffic.<\/p>\n<p>An incident on SH 71 near Austin-Bergstrom was expected to cause some problems this morning in the area, with cars on the roads near the airport now moving through.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"SH-71 E @ Presidential Blvd at 7:20 a.m. on 9\/4\/2026\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"364\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ecc26b84-87f1-499c-aff2-76220864a771-DRIVETEXAS.png\" width=\"648\"\/><\/p>\n<p>SH-71 E @ Presidential Blvd at 7:20 a.m. on 9\/4\/2026<\/p>\n<p>Drivers are also waking up to record diesel prices in Central Texas. In the Austin area, diesel is now about $5.51 a gallon. Statewide, it\u2019s about $5.46. Both are record highs.<\/p>\n<p>Regular gas prices are also rising, averaging about $3.74 in Austin and $3.69 statewide. Nationwide, GasBuddy expects this to be the most expensive Labor Day on record at the pump.<\/p>\n<p>Doug Johnson with AAA said the ongoing conflict is making prices difficult to predict.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, with this Iran conflict, that&#8217;s all gone down the window. It&#8217;s all demand right now. Gas prices shoot up like a rocket, come down like a feather, so it might take a while,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n<p>GasBuddy experts said drivers can stretch a tank by using cruise control when it\u2019s safe and slowing down slightly.<\/p>\n<p>For those flying, AUS expects 30,000-plus departing passengers a day. Texas airports also have some of the highest historical odds of Labor Day delays, according to the Action Network.<\/p>\n<p>Dallas Love Field ranks No. 1, with delays averaging more than 55 minutes. Houston Hobby is No. 2 at more than 49 minutes. DFW is third at more than 81 minutes, and Austin ranks No. 10 with delays averaging more than 72 minutes.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Source: actionnetwork.com\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"365\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/cd1a23ec-45ea-43a6-b3a3-2e989e56dbea-labordayflightdelayoddsred1920x1080.png\" width=\"648\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Source: actionnetwork.com<\/p>\n<p>Airport officials expect travel to get even busier with Labor Day travel and Austin\u2019s fall festival season getting underway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Travelers heading out for Labor Day are facing a costly and potentially delayed start, with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-426169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}