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It may not seem like it from where you sit behind the wheel, but there are fewer cars on the road today than a year ago. There's hard evidence of that change across the country, and Utah is part of that trend.
Most of us are driving less: combining errands, thinking twice about longer drives and using mass transit more.
According to a report from the U.S. Department of Transportation, nationwide, about 2 percent fewer cars are on the road than a year ago. This is the first time that's happened in more than two decades.
Experts say we reached our collective breaking point with gas prices somewhere between $3.50 and $4 a gallon. Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer highway miles in April than they did a year earlier. So far this year, drivers traveled 20 billion fewer miles.
In Utah, there's nearly a 3 percent drop. "Most of it is driven, as we know, by the cost of moving around alone in a car. It's finally hitting," said Roger Borgenicht, with Utahns for Better Transportation.
Borgenicht sees it as a positive trend towards more balanced transportation. "So we might see a big shift in the years to come, but it's only if we make those alternatives of walking, biking and transit convenient and affordable," he said.
The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) measures traffic at 3,000 different sites with portable counters and 95 permanent counters that operate continuously. That data streams into UDOT offices where officials analyze the numbers.
Statewide, we match the national trend. "From about 1983, as far back as we have kept track, up until this last year, it's been a steady increase, and it is definitely on the decrease," said Lee Theobald, UDOT traffic monitoring program supervisor.
While our miles and trips may be on the decline, UDOT says our speeds keep rising.
For more information on traffic volume trends across the country, click the related link.
E-mail: jboal@ksl.com
