VMT
Putting the Recent Uptick in Driving in Perspective
With gas prices plummeting and employment figures rising, America's per capita driving rate increased in 2014 for the first time in nearly a decade. But experts warn driving is far from back to its previous historical pattern.
March 12, 2015
Americans Are Driving Less, But Road Expansion Is Accelerating
Americans drive fewer miles today than in 2005, but since that time the nation has built 317,000 lane-miles of new roads -- or about 40,000 miles per year. Maybe that helps explain why America's infrastructure is falling apart.
February 20, 2015
The Feds Quietly Acknowledge the Driving Boom Is Over
The Federal Highway Administration has very quietly acknowledged that the driving boom is over.
January 7, 2015
The Great Traffic Projection Swindle
This is the final piece in a three-part series about privately-financed roads. In the first two parts of this series, we looked at the Indiana Toll Road as an example of the growth in privately financed highways, and how financial firms can turn these assets into profits, even if the road itself is a big money loser. In this piece, we examine the shaky assumptions that toll road investments are based on, and how that is putting the public at risk.
November 20, 2014
Not Just a Phase: Young Americans Won’t Start Motoring Like Their Parents
A raft of recent research indicates that young adults just aren't as into driving as their parents were. Young people today are walking, biking, and riding transit more while driving less than previous generations did at the same age. But the vast majority of state DOTs have been loathe to respond by changing their highway-centric ways.
October 14, 2014
Census Data Shows How Much Less Millennials and Gen-Xers Commute by Car
Cross-posted from Brookings’ The Avenue blog. This article is the second in a short series examining new Census data on transportation trends.
October 8, 2014
Car Commuting Still Rules, But New Census Data Reveals Important Shifts
Cross-posted from Brookings' The Avenue blog.
September 30, 2014
FHWA Gleefully Declares That Driving Is Up, Calls for More Highway Spending
Well, so much for the predictions that changing preferences and new technologies will lead to a car-free utopia. The Federal Highway Administration announced last week that after nine years of steady decline, vehicle-miles-traveled in the U.S. was 1.4 percent higher this June than last June. Apparently, red-blooded Americans everywhere are finally getting back to their Hummer habit after a few years of diminished driving and rising transit ridership and bike commuting.
September 2, 2014
California Has Officially Ditched Car-Centric ‘Level of Service’
Ding, dong...LOS is dead.
August 7, 2014
Arizonans Driving Like It’s 1994
Here's more evidence that there's a shift underway in how Americans get around: The Arizona Public Interest Research Group has released a new report [PDF] showing that residents of this sprawling Sun Belt state are driving less and taking transit more.
July 23, 2014