As gas prices continue to surge across much of the country, Arizona residents are expected to spend an average of at least $769 more on gas this year.

The news comes courtesy of the latest Gasoline Misery Index, which tracks flows in gas prices and how they may affect the average American consumer in a given year.

The average American will spend an average of $788 more this year than last in gasoline costs, and the spike may not end there, the index reported.

"This war is roiling an already tight global oil market and making it hard to determine if we are near a peak for pump prices, or if they keep grinding higher," Andrew Gross, a spokesperson for AAA, said on the organization's website. "It all depends on the direction of oil prices."

At a time when inflation rates across the country have soared to a 40-year high, Americans are also being blitzed by record-high gas prices that have spiked to a national average of $4.33 per gallon. As it is, a recent AAA survey reported that more than half of all respondents, 59%, had already decided to alter driving habits or make lifestyle changes if gas costs tipped past $4 per gallon.

With the war in Ukraine still raging, oil prices have surged by 70 cents across the country as of March 9, representing some of the highest spikes the nation has seen since 2008's financial crisis, AAA reported.

The Gasoline Misery Index shows that Arizona's gas price average has jumped to $4.58 as of March 11, compared to only $3.07 last year.

Amid all the fluctuating prices, a recent national poll distributed by Trafalgar Group found more than three-quarters (76.5 %) of voters said they support replacing the oil the country received from Russia with oil from oil-producing states such as Alaska, Pennsylvania and Texas now that President Joe Biden has banned Russian oil imports.