US Road Travel Set to Decline for Second Straight Year
Total vehicle miles traveled in the US are likely to decline more than 2% this year as high fuel prices deter road travel.
In a new report on the US transportation system, Fitch Ratings notes that TVM as reported by the Federal Highway Administration declined by 0.4% in 2007, and are on pace to decline by 2.3% in 2008 if current conditions continue. “This is significant as there is only one other period since 1970 with two consecutive years of VMT declines: 1979 and 1980. In addition, the only other year with a decline in overall VMT is 1974, which coincided with the oil embargo.”
The current and past declines are not totally surprising, given the movement in real prices for gasoline.
“One other trend that is important to point out is the reduction in the overall growth rate in annual VMT, which began in the 1990s.”
As a result Fitch is revising its outlook for toll roads to negative from stable. Fitch made a similar downgrade of airports based on continued weakness in air travel.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
