$50 gas will get you farther than any summer since 2008: Report

Summer may be winding down, but there’s still time for weekend warriors to scratch their travel itch and take part in the great American road trip tradition.

And now, according to trend analysts at Howmuch,that $50 in gas money will now get you farther than any summer since the beginning of the Great Recession.

Researchers arrived at that finding by crunching numbers from the June months of 2005, 2008, 2011, and 2014 through 2016, while assuming a car fuel efficiency of 24 miles per gallon, the new-car average for 2014.

The site also published 20 maps for 20 major American cities, mapping the distances $50 worth of gas could have taken you at each of those time points.

The difference is striking: in 2008, $50 would provide about five-and-a-half hours worth of highway driving, just over 300 miles. In 2016, that same amount jumps up to eight-and-a-half hours, about 530 miles worth.

That distance has climbed steadily every year since 2008, but still hasn’t reached its 2005 value: back then, $50 worth of gas would’ve gotten you about nine hours of driving, over 550 miles from home base.

As for this summer: If you’re leaving New York City for greener pastures this season, Bangor, Maine, or even Quebec City are within your grasp.

Travelers could also head west and hit Columbus, Ohio, but travelers in 2005 could have driven the extra 25 miles to Toledo — if they wanted to. Riders wouldn’t have even made it to Rochester in 2008, but could’ve gone to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, or even Syracuse, no problem.

Speaking of the other major northeast cities: drivers in Boston could make it down to Hampton, Virginia, this summer much further than their 2008 limit of Philadelphia and South Jersey.

Drivers in Philly could reach as far north as Montreal in 2016, but wouldn’t have even made it to Pittsburgh in 2008.