WASHINGTON – Gasoline prices are surging again with summer on the horizon, pushing or even passing $3 a gallon in some places.

Drivers aren’t expected to ease off on their mileage, sending demand higher than last year. But they are grumbling.

The Energy Department says it expects the price of regular to average $2.62 a gallon, 25 cents more than last summer, during the April-September driving period. But prices around the country are already above that.

“Look, it’s $41 to fill it up,” complained Lorenzo Rivera, 26, a restaurant manager, as he pumped mid-level gas Tuesday at $3.05 a gallon at a Chevron station near the Watergate complex in Northwest Washington. Across the street at an ExxonMobil station, regular grade was going for $3.09 – and there weren’t many customers.

Ervin Goodall, 56, a professional driver pumping supreme grade into his large sedan, was paying $3.29 a gallon. “It’s lot higher than last year – a bigger hit,” said Goodall, who added that when it comes to personal driving he’s scaling back – no more Saturday day trips.

Guy Caruso, head of the Energy Department’s statistical agency, said prices at the pump, which averaged $2.68 a gallon last week nationwide, are likely to increase 10 to 15 cents a gallon in the coming weeks, peak in May and drop off in late summer. He said the national average can mask local price spikes.

“We assume normal weather,” added Caruso, head of the Energy Information Administration. If a hurricane or a refinery outage causes supply problems, or if crude oil takes a major jump, prices will be higher yet.

Crude oil climbed above $69 a barrel Tuesday to the highest level this year. Wholesale gasoline for delivery in May was a shade over $2 a gallon, 29 percent higher than a year ago.

But Caruso said motorists are not expected to cut back on their summer driving – a view mirrored by AAA, formerly the American Automobile Association, which also predicts a busy summer travel season. In fact, motorists are expected to use 1.5 percent more gasoline than last summer.

Said Geoff Sundstrom, a spokesman for AAA, “Although the price of gasoline is very high, the fact is the economy still seems to be growing. We’re adding jobs, so we would expect we would see a relatively strong summer travel season.”

Gas prices last week were 40 percent higher than the same week a year ago and are likely rise further as higher crude oil and wholesale gasoline costs move through the system, Caruso said.