The Driving Decline
The number of miles driven in Kansas has fallen sharply, yet we continue to spend enormous sums of money building roadways that don’t support bicycling and walking for transportation.
The Colorado Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest organization, has released a report, Moving Off The Road, that provides a state-by-state analysis of national driving trends. The report “analyzes which states drive more miles per-person, which states have reduced their driving the most since the end of the national Driving Boom, and how state changes in driving behavior correspond to other changes such as growing unemployment or urbanizationâ€.
How has Kansas fared?
In the period from 2005-2011, the average number of per-person vehicle miles traveled dropped by 3.12%.
The “peak†year for Kansas was 2006, and it’s been going down ever since (a total of 4.4% from the peak), to 10,456 vehicle-miles per person in 2011.
And our neighbors? Arkansas -2.50%, Colorado -11.40%, Iowa -2.47%, Missouri -3.45%, Nebraska -5.53%, Oklahoma -5.54%. Everyone’s driving less.
Why does this matter? Because it changes everything about our transportation system!
If we’re driving less and less, then there’s less and less of a need to continue building new roads, and there’s less and less fuel tax revenue for roadway construction, maintenance, and repair (especially once ever-improving fuel economy is factored in).
In other words, a funding crisis is looming.
Which makes it all the more important to invest our limited transportation dollars on projects that are the most cost-efficient, and that have the greatest return on investment, and can positively impact the greatest number of people.
Yep, that’d be bike/ped projects.
That should be no surprise, given some of the conclusions that have been reached in recent years:
- Bicycling infrastructure is incredibly cost-effective. The city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, for instance, determined that a $30 million investment could pay for either one mile of street widening, 600 miles of quality bike lanes, 100 miles of sidewalk, 300 miles of buffered bike lanes, 120 miles of bicycle boulevards, 30 miles of bike trails, or 20 miles of physically-separated cycle tracks. (What will $30 million in transportation funding buy?) Now, which of those choices has the most impact for the largest number of people?
- In urban areas, where cars and bicyclists travel at similar speeds, bike lanes can accommodate 7 to 12 times as many people per meter of lane per hour than car lanes, and bicycles cause less wear on the pavement. [link]
- For the cost of repaving 3 miles of Interstate 710, CalTrans could sign and stripe 1,250 miles of California roads for bike lanes. [link]
- For every $1 spent on bike infrastructure, cities save around $5. [link]
- Roadways require a HUGE subsidy, year in and year out. Drivers pay just 51% of the cost of U.S. roads & highways.
- In Kansas, less than 30% of roadway spending is paid directly by drivers of motor vehicles. The remaining 70% is paid by everyone, whether they drive or not, from general revenue (i.e. taxes). [link]
- The true costs of driving are enormous. CommuteSolutions.org estimates it (as of 2010) at about $1.36 per mile. [link]
- And yet, the vast majority of automobile trips (69%) are two miles or less, an easy distance for bicycling. [link]
- One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss
- 83% of Americans support maintaining or growing federal funding for sidewalks, bikeways, and bike paths.
Just because you live "downtown" doesn't mean you'll eat out every night, or go clubbing or to the theatre. It's just more convenient if you don't want to drive everywhere or loathe walking miles to get the basics. OTOH, I know several downtown condo dwellers who insist on driving everywhere--their condo lifestyle really is similar to the suburbs minus the Tim Hortons in the lobby. 
