By Chris Cannon
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A new report ranked Nashville as the 4th most gas-guzzling city in the United States. Long drives to and from work for commuters contributed to that ranking.
The Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago calculated the statistics used for the rankings. The center tracked actual miles driven to come up with the numbers.
In Nashville, the center said the average household drives 21,200 miles per year. It takes an average of 1,046 gallons of gas to fuel those commutes. With gas at $3.89 a gallon, that adds up to $4,068 spent on fuel.
"I think it is a very big problem. I think we should all try to not use as much gas," Cameron Caudle said.
He drives a scooter that gets 80 miles per gallon. Caudle said the price of gas these days has made it hard for many people to make ends meet.
"Some people only make $8 an hour and they have to commute 30-40 miles to work. It's like it's almost not even worth it with gas being that much," according to Caudle.
The Raleigh-Durham area and Charlotte took the number one and two spots on the gas-guzzling list.
Motorists in New York City use the least amount of gas per year in the United States. Los Angeles was the second least gas-guzzling city.
Demand for gas dropped by more than 2 percent last week in the United States. It is the seventh consecutive week that number has gone down.
Analysts said that drop in demand supports their theory that gas prices will drop by 30-40 cents by the end of May.
Email: ccannon@newschannel5.com
