

Light Duty Vehicle VMT, the largest component of travel demand, is projected to grow by 17% over the next 30 years.FHWA's Spring 2022 long-term forecast of National Vehicle Miles Traveled has total VMT increasing by 22% from 2019 to 2049.Our Built and Natural Environments: A Technical Review of the Interactions Among Land Use, Transportation, and Environmental Quality 2013. Highway Statistics 2011: Urbanized Areas – 2010, Miles and Daily Vehicle – Miles of Travel 2011. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration: Office of Highway Policy Information Highway Statistics Series. The Planning Perspective on Health: Community Health as a Goal of Good Design. Per capita VMT ticks down for eighth straight year 2013. and European Regional Modeling Studies of Policies Intended to Reduce Motorized Travel, Fuel Use, and Emissions.

American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2004:27(2):87-96. Obesity relationships with community design, physical activity, and time spent in cars. Policy Information Travel Monitoring, Frequently Asked Questions 2013.įrank LD, Anderson M, Schmid T.

Washington State Department of Transportation 2010. Impacts of VMT Reduction Strategies on Selected Areas and Groups. The data can also help in evaluating policies and strategies that support improved public health outcomes related to air quality, road traffic injuries and fatalities, and physical activity from transportation.Ĭarlson D, Howard Z. Transportation decision makers can use data on VMT per capita to track the effects of implemented policies and strategies to reduce traffic on the road. Some strategies that have shown success include public transportation expansion and service improvement, active transportation infrastructure, and higher parking fees (Carlson and Howard, 2010). Continued research is needed on the effectiveness of policies to decrease VMT per capita. Increased population density is also associated with lower VMT per capita (ChangeLab Solutions, 2007 U.S. VMT levels are lower in communities that are more walkable and compact and in communities that have strong public transportation systems. As a result, local traffic might be underestimated in some states that have high levels of through-traffic related to longer trips. Only 4,000 automatic traffic recorders on public roadways throughout all 50 states collect the data, and traffic is recorded primarily on major highways and roads (U.S. Although the data set is robust, it is not without some limitations. FHWA uses the term Federal-Aid Urban Area to distinguish the adjusted urban area boundaries allowed for transportation purposes from those designated by the Census Bureau. The Federal Highway Administration reports total VMT as an annual average for states and daily average for Federal-Aid Urbanized Areas (FAUA). These include the interaction of newly implemented land use policies, active transportation infrastructure and encouragement, economic factors, and other strategies to reduce car-dependence. This decline might reflect a large variety of factors. In 2012, total VMT reached the lowest level since 1996 (State Smart Transportation Initiative, 2013). A study in Atlanta, Georgia found that each additional hour per day spent in a car was associated with a 6% increase in a person’s risk for obesity (Frank et al, 2004). Higher VMT also equates to increased sedentary time. How much depends on the types of vehicles on the road (Johnson, 2006).

