Recent Streetsblog USA posts about VMT

It’s Not the Economy, Stupid: Americans Really Are Driving Less

By Stephen Miller | Nov 5, 2012 | 19 Comments

Since 2005, Americans have been driving fewer miles each year. While the shift predated the onset of the Great Recession, the question of whether the decline in driving marked a sea change in the way we get around or simply reflected a drop in economic activity has been a matter of considerable debate. Enter economist Joe Cortright, who […]

What Has President Obama Done to Improve American Transportation Policy?

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 2, 2012 | 8 Comments

With the election just days away, it’s a good time to reflect on what the Obama administration has done with transportation policy – and what a Romney administration might have in store. Streetsblog does not endorse candidates. This is an overview of their respective records and a look back at what we know of these […]

Will Transportation Investments Keep Up With the Way Americans Travel?

By Phineas Baxandall | Oct 22, 2012 | 15 Comments

Phineas Baxandall is a senior analyst at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. It’s now common knowledge that annual changes in the volume of driving no longer follow the old patterns. For 60 years, the amount of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) rose steadily. Predicting more driving miles next year was like predicting that the sun would […]

Oregon Takes the Next Step in Moving Beyond the Gas Tax

By Tanya Snyder | Aug 3, 2012 | 15 Comments

Rep. Earl Blumenauer likes to say that Oregon was the first state to adopt a gas tax and it will be the first state to get rid of it. In 2006-2007, the state conducted a pilot study of alternative revenue collection methods, with an eye toward moving to a better system. This fall, they’ll do […]

The Projections Fallacy

By Charles Marohn | Jul 23, 2012 | 12 Comments

Cross-posted from Streets.MN. We spend billions every year in this country on our transportation network, large percentages of it based on traffic projections. This despite the fact that we have a long record of not being able to accurately project traffic. The answer isn’t better projections but a better transportation system, one that is robust […]

A New Bill Passes, But America’s Transpo Policy Stays Stuck in 20th Century

By Tanya Snyder | Jun 29, 2012 | 11 Comments

The House of Representatives approved the transportation bill conference report this afternoon by a vote of 373 to 52. [UPDATE 4:00 PM: The Senate has also approved the bill, 74-19.] This is a bill that’s been called “a death blow to mass transit” by the Amalgamated Transit Union, “a step backwards for America’s transportation system” […]

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