Gas dips below $3 a gallon in parts of Northeast Ohio

CLEVELAND - Northeast Ohio travelers are smiling a little wider these days. Gas prices have dropped throughout the month of December dipping below $3 a gallon for the first time in a year.

"Believe me it is the most exciting thing I saw today," said Waheeb Zahriyeh who manages a gas station on Memphis Avenue in Cleveland where gas is selling for $2.98. "Really people coming in and throwing high fives at you," he said.

Prices are down around 4.5 percent in December. The average price for a gallon of regular gas in Ohio was $3.14 in Monday's survey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That's 21 cents lower than a week ago, and down 35 cents from this time last month.

It's the prices below $3 that are catching people's eyes.

"I hope that we can maintain it in the next couple of weeks just for the holidays, I hope we can," said John Lovejoy of Cleveland.

The national average Monday was $3.25, down 9 cents from a week ago and 17 cents below the same time last month. Gas prices are expected to fall throughout the rest of December, thanks to lower demand and higher inventories.