Peak VMT a consequence of peak oil
June 25th, 2010The Federal Highway Administration reports travel on all roads and streets was up 1.2% (3.1 billion vehicle miles) for April 2010 as compared with April 2009.
Cumulative travel for 2010 is down 0.2% (-1.6 billion vehicle miles). Calculated Risk has posted this chart.
Are we seeing a Hubbert’s Peak for VMT? Peak VMT logically would be a consequence of peak oil, as vehicle travel is almost totally dependent on oil.
Travel in the western states rose considerably less than the rest of the country – only 0.3%.
One implication of peak VMT is that we won’t be needing all of the road infrastructure that is currently being planned, based on the assumption that traffic will continue to increase into the future as it has in the past. Peak VMT means we’ll likely be stranded with excess capacity. Continuing to squander billions on new bridge and highway capacity will prove to be a tragic misallocation of precious land and scarce resources.