The price of gasoline fell just short of the all-time high reached in 2001 last week as consumers paid an average $1.712 per gallon, a mere tenth of a penny below the record, the federal government said earlier this week.

The national average retail price for regular unleaded gasoline – which was the second-highest on record – jumped 2.6 cents a gallon from the previous week and was up about 49 cents from a year ago, based on a weekly survey of service stations by the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration.

U.S. pump prices in May 2001 reached a record $1.713 a gallon.