For the thousands of students who commute to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) daily, the walk from the Sun Bowl parking garage is getting increasingly expensive before they even step onto campus.
As of early April 2026, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in El Paso has reached $4.08. According to the American Automobilbe Association of Texas (AAA Texas), this figure is the highest among the 27 largest metropolitan areas in the state. Since the onset of the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran on February 28, local prices have skyrocketed from an average of $3.12 per gallon to a 31% increase in just over a month.
The rapid spike is directly tied to the geography of the ongoing war. The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that handles approximately 20% of the world’s total oil consumption, is currently the center of a global supply disruption…