The Road…Less Traveled: An Analysis of Vehicle Miles Traveled Trends in the U.S

Abstract

This brief employs the latest federal data to construct a thorough picture of VMT patterns across the country, including roadway, vehicle, state, and metropolitan comparisons. It is intended to provide policymakers with a better understanding of American drivers' behavior—what roadways they use, what vehicles they use, and where they travel the most. First, we assess national trends over time, considering both the total change over time and individual driving patterns. This national analysis is then reinforced by national trend analysis within specific roadway types and vehicle types. We then reduce our geographic scope to statewide and metropolitan trends, paying close attention to individual behavior and differences in land use characteristics. Finally, we synthesize VMT-related factors and our five findings into a series of implications.\n

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 86 citations exist upstream.