U.S. VMT continues to fall (except in West)
March 20th, 2009The latest Federal Highway Administration “Traffic Volume Trends” report show the decline in American driving continued in January 2009 with 7 billion fewer vehicle-miles traveled (VMT), or 3.1% less, compared to the same month a year earlier. This is the first “back-to-back” decline for January since 1981-1982.
The decline now exceeds 122 billion VMT, compared to the same 14-month period – December 2006 to January 2008 – a year earlier. The decline in rural driving in January 2009 outpaced the decline in urban driving.
Total vehicle miles driven continues to fall despite much lower gasoline prices in January 2009 ($1.84 per gallon) compared to January 2008 ($3.09 per gallon), probably due to the collapsing economy.
The west is now bucking the national trend. Despite the overall national decline, the West – a bloc of 13 states including Hawaii and Alaska – posted an increase of 0.2%. It is the West’s first increase in estimated VMT since the national decline began.