Yes, Virginians, You Are Driving More

Are Virginia’s roads getting more congested? After several years of respite, it appears that they are.

Several days ago I took note of national data indicating that time taken by the average commute was getting longer. I wondered if, as seemed logical, Virginians were driving more. My quickie data search showed that, in fact, the total number of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) in the Old Dominion had increased 2% between 2014 and 2015, but I didn’t have time to compile the numbers going back any further so I didn’t know if the upward surge — and 2% in this context is a surge — or a blip.

Carol Bova took the trouble to do just that. Over the 12 years between 2002 and 2015, she found, VMT in Virginia increased 9.8%. Within that overall number, there are a couple of points worth noting.

First, the strongest growth occurred during the real estate boom of the early 2000s. After peaking in 2007 and 2008, VMT declined measurably, plateaued, and then picked up in the last couple of years.

Second, growth has been strongest on Interstates (up 10.7%), followed by primary roads (up 9.4%), and weakest on secondary roads (up only 5.9%).

Third, Interstate traffic in 2015 surpassed the previous peak by more than 2 million miles. Primary road traffic is near its previous peak, but not quite there yet. And secondary road traffic remains well below its previous summit.

(For data junkies, I will post the raw numbers in the comments.)