As gas prices rise, people are again driving less
March 22nd, 2010 by Jim JustToday the Federal Highway Administration reported travel on all roads and streets decreased by -1.6% (-3.7 billion vehicle miles) for January 2010 as compared with January 2009. Travel for the month is estimated to be 222.8 billion vehicle miles.
Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the 13 western states were off more than the national average – 2.8%. VMT in Oregon were off 1.2%. Oregon VMT were up 12.8% in 2009 over 2008, but now appear to be dropping again.
The rural/urban split of the total VMT was about 1/3: 2/3 - 72.0 billion vehicle-miles on rural roads and 150.8 billion vehicle-miles on urban roads and streets.
VMT have declined 2.9% compared to January 2008, and are down 4.7% compared to January 2007. As gas prices have been rising again (as discussed here), it looks like VMT are once again dropping.