January VMT rises in U.S., falls in Oregon
March 21st, 2011The Federal Highway Administration’s Traffic Volume Trends reports travel on all roads and streets was up 0.2% for January 2011 as compared with January 2010 – meaning cumulative travel for 2011 was also up 0.2%.
The moving 12-month total is still below the peak reaching in 2008.
After falling in response to the spike in oil prices and the subsequent recession, VMT finally began to rise again in late spring of 2010. This chart from Calculated Risk shows VMT over a time span long enough to capture the effects of the 1974-75 recession and the double-dip recession of 1980-83.
Global oil prices are high and rising again. The Middle East/North Africa is proving to be a tinderbox. Will the pattern seen in ’74-’75 and ’80-’83 be repeated, with VMT resuming its inexorable, historic rise? Or have we entered a new era of falling VMT?