Americans are driving less for eighth straight month
Americans drove 53.2 billion miles less since November than they did over the same period last year, according to a report by the Federal Highway Administration, an arm of the Department of Transportation.
In the latest issue of Traffic Volume Trends, a monthly report based on hourly traffic counts, travel on all roads and streets declined by 4.7 percent in June 2008 compared with June 2007. Rural travel declined by 4 percent, compared to the 1.2 percent decline in urban miles traveled, since the trend began last November.
With Americans driving fewer miles, less revenue is generated for the Highway Trust Fund from gasoline and diesel sales. Last month, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters unveiled the new USDOT Transportation Reform Plan, which gives Congress several options when they take up highway and transit legislation next year.
“It really makes little sense to try to upgrade our infrastructure using a revenue source as ineffective, unsustainable and unpopular as the fuel tax,” she said.
But it’s unclear if this trend will continue. Now that energy prices are falling, it’s possible that fuel price amnesia will set in, and American motorists will return to the highway.
You can view the report for June 2008 in PDF format by clicking here. To download past reports, click here.
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