GEORGIA (WALB) - For Derrick Freeman, the timing couldn’t have been worse. The Mitchell County resident just bought a new truck, and now he’s watching gas prices climb faster than he ever expected.

“I expected to pay a little bit more, but I wasn’t expecting to be paying $100 a week,” Freeman said.

Freeman commutes for work, a drive that adds up fast. He says he and his family are now waiting and hoping for relief from state leaders.

Other residents said they do not know the reason for the price spike. But when they go to work or take their children to school, it’s a new number once they arrive at a gas pump.

Asia Smith was checking her gas app before pulling up to the pump, trying to find the cheapest option in town.

She says she’s not plugged into the politics behind the price spike. She just knows she has no choice.

“I just pay for it. I’m not happy about it, but I gotta drive and get to work. Gotta do what you gotta do.”

That sentiment is echoed by Shanise Marshall, who works at a Walmart gas station and watches customers react to the prices every single day.

“They’re coming in just doing $5, $10. Sometimes they even have to go a little higher than that.”

Marshall says she’s feeling it personally while taking her own kids to school before coming to work each day.

“Normally, if gas is not $5 a gallon, I have to put like $25 for a full tank,” she said. “Now I’m doing about $40, $45, and that’s a week.”

In Albany, the average price for a gallon of regular gas has jumped to $3.657, 11 cents higher than the day before, March 19.

Statewide, Georgia’s average sits at $3.769 per gallon as of March 19.

Right now, a gas tax relief legislative bill lies in the state Senate. If the Senate passes it and Gov. Brian Kemp signs it, experts say Georgia drivers could pay about 33 cents less per gallon.

For commuters like Freeman and the many South Georgians who travel long distances between rural counties and work, they say a short-term blip feels anything but temporary.

“I’m just waiting on it to decrease,” Freeman said. “Because I got to go back and forth to work. And so does my wife, and everybody else.”

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