The Driving Boom – a six decade-long period of steady increases in per-capita driving in the United States – is over. Americans drive fewer total miles today than we did eight years ago, and fewer per person than we did at the end of Bill Clinton’s first term. The unique combination of conditions that fuelled the Driving Boom – from cheap gas prices to the rapid expansion of the workforce during the Baby Boom generation – no longer exists. Meanwhile, a new generation – the Millennials – is demanding a new American Dream less dependent on driving. Transportation policy in the United States, however, remains stuck in the past. Official forecasts of future vehicle travel continue to assume steady increases in driving, despite the experience of the past decade. Those forecasts are used to justify spending vast sums on new and expanded highways, even as existing roads and bridges are neglected. Elements of a more balanced transportation system – from transit systems to bike lanes – lack crucial investment as powerful interests battle to maintain their piece of a shrinking transportation funding pie. The time has come for America to hit the “reset” button on transportation policy – replacing the policy infrastructure of the Driving Boom years with a more efficient, flexible and nimble system that is better able to meet the transportation needs of the 21st century. The Driving Boom is over: • Americans drove more miles nearly every year between the end of World War II and 2004. By the end of this period of rapid increases in per-capita driving – which we call the “Driving Boom” – the average American was driving 85 percent more miles each year than in 1970. • Americans drive no more miles in total today than we did in 2004 and no more per person than we did in 1996. • On the other hand, Americans took nearly 10 percent more trips via public transportation in 2011 than we did in 2005. The nation also saw increases in commuting by bike and on foot. (Author/publisher)
Abstract