Annual vehicle miles traveled per capita, by state
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  Annual vehicle miles traveled per capita, by state
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Author Topic: Annual vehicle miles traveled per capita, by state  (Read 8598 times)
greenforest32
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« on: August 30, 2013, 09:14:02 AM »

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2013/08/americas-driving-less-and-evidence-suggests-it-cant-be-just-about-economy/6706/

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Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck
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« Reply #1 on: August 30, 2013, 09:42:02 AM »


Amazing the maps you can find that seem to coincide with our Presidential Election results... but it DOES make sense. 
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snowguy716
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« Reply #2 on: August 30, 2013, 11:36:03 AM »

It has more to do with population density, not with political affiliation.  Look at a state like Alaska, which has the smallest population density... but people are clumped into villages and cities... and since those villages and cities are so far apart, driving between them is no dice.  Airline miles per capita are probably very high in AK though.

Then look at North Dakota, which is currently experiencing a major housing shortage due to the oil boom, which they were not prepared for at all.  People are buying homes in small towns dozens of miles away from work because developers are afraid that building like crazy will be rewarded with an oil bust and lost money.  It's happened before in the same region.

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jimrtex
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« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2013, 01:23:46 PM »

It is miles per resident.  So people driving across Wyoming add to the numerator but not the denominator.  You can see similar effects in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Indiana, Missouri, Vermont, and Alabama where people from more numerous states drive across or to them on vacation.
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traininthedistance
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« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2013, 02:01:32 PM »

It has more to do with population density, not with political affiliation.  Look at a state like Alaska, which has the smallest population density... but people are clumped into villages and cities... and since those villages and cities are so far apart, driving between them is no dice.  Airline miles per capita are probably very high in AK though.

Then look at North Dakota, which is currently experiencing a major housing shortage due to the oil boom, which they were not prepared for at all.  People are buying homes in small towns dozens of miles away from work because developers are afraid that building like crazy will be rewarded with an oil bust and lost money.  It's happened before in the same region.

Absolutely true- but of course, population density has quite a bit to do with political affiliation these days.
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memphis
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« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2013, 02:39:27 PM »

It must be awful to have to drive far to get places. 10 minutes to work, Target, or Kroger for me. Gym is 15 and that really annoys the hell out of me. I understand in big cities and in rural areas, people often must travel an hour each way to and from work. Insanity!
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Padfoot
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« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2013, 01:05:21 PM »

I'm sure others here have read the recent (within the last year or so) articles that cite studies indicating "peak driving" in America occurred immediately before the Great Recession and we have been driving less since then.  In addition to economic reasons, many of the articles I've read have attributed this to a decrease in driving among young Gen Xers and Millennials.  It would be interesting to see how well age demographics line up with the above maps.
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Brittain33
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« Reply #7 on: September 03, 2013, 02:29:19 AM »

It is miles per resident.  So people driving across Wyoming add to the numerator but not the denominator.  You can see similar effects in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Indiana, Missouri, Vermont, and Alabama where people from more numerous states drive across or to them on vacation.

But would we expect increases in vacation traffic by road between 2005 and 2011 that would have a measurable impact and push numbers higher?
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jimrtex
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« Reply #8 on: September 03, 2013, 07:38:03 PM »

It is miles per resident.  So people driving across Wyoming add to the numerator but not the denominator.  You can see similar effects in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Indiana, Missouri, Vermont, and Alabama where people from more numerous states drive across or to them on vacation.

But would we expect increases in vacation traffic by road between 2005 and 2011 that would have a measurable impact and push numbers higher?
Many of the states that had high numbers because of low density next to populous numbers (eg VT, ME, WY, OK, WV) had declines.  The effect is not related only to vacations, but includes trips into the neighboring state as well.

LA would have a Katrina effect for 2005.

I think Alabama is due to non-comparable data.  AFAICT, the data is based on state reporting to the FHA.  Alabama had a big jump between 2009 and 2010, and it was concentrated in urban minor street (minor arterial, collector, and local).   I think Alabama did something in their data reporting.

Incidentally, rural mileage peaked about 2002.   urban mileage plateaued around 2005.  From 2002-2011 rural mileage declined 14.1%, urban miles increased 5.4% with almost all that in the early part of the period.
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Smash255
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« Reply #9 on: September 13, 2013, 09:36:28 PM »

It must be awful to have to drive far to get places. 10 minutes to work, Target, or Kroger for me. Gym is 15 and that really annoys the hell out of me. I understand in big cities and in rural areas, people often must travel an hour each way to and from work. Insanity!

When I was working in the Financial District in Manhattan my commute was generally an hour an 20 minutes or so, now I'm usually at work in 30 minutes or so (can be less than 20 without traffic, but that doesn't happen often).  Often times I would rather my old commute (though now I would likely move to Queens or Brooklyn if I worked in Manhattan again)
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