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Gas Prices Driving Maine Motorists Off the Road

August 20, 2008 - AUGUSTA -- With gas prices soaring, Americans drove 12.2 billion fewer miles in June than the same month a year earlier, and hardly anywhere was that more apparent than in Maine.

The state saw a 7 percent drop in June, the second-largest drop in the nation. The 4.7 percent decline nationally was the biggest monthly driving drop in a downward trend that began in November, the Federal Highway Administration said Wednesday.

"Clearly, more Americans chose to stay close to home ... than in previous years," said Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.

Some Maine data indicate that people have indeed been cutting back.

The Maine Turnpike Authority said the number of vehicles on that highway was down 4.1 percent in June from the same month a year earlier and down 2.7 percent in July. For the year, traffic is off 1.5 percent, turnpike authority spokesman Dan Paradee said.

He said growth in the number of vehicles on the road has been relatively flat over the past few years, but "it would be unusual for us to finish the year in the negative. It definitely is a different trend," he said.

Paradee said that the turnpike has seen significant decreases in commercial traffic and that the lower vehicle counts for June and July suggest a drop in tourists driving into the state.

At AAA Northern New England, there's one measure that suggests much less interest in driving this summer. The association said it had a nearly 25 percent decline in requests for Trip Tiks -- they provide travel routes for vacations and other trips -- in July compared to the same month last year.

From November through June, Americans drove 53.2 billion fewer miles than they did over the same eight-month period a year earlier, according to the highway agency's latest monthly report on driving. That's a larger decline than the 49.3 billion fewer miles driven by Americans over the entire decade of the 1970s, a period marked by oil embargoes and gas lines.

Travel Industry Association spokeswoman Cathy Keefe said the June driving decline "is not surprising, given the environment that we were in." But she was optimistic that the recent drop in gas prices to less than $4 a gallon in many parts of the country will have travelers on the road again.

"I think people have started to take the increase in gas prices somewhat more in stride," Keefe said.

The trade association is predicting only a 1.2 percent decline in all forms of business and leisure travel this year.

Much like Maine, Florida is another state where tourism traffic is heavy, and it also saw a big decrease in June: 6 percent.

Another trend is that Western states with wide-open spaces were hit hard: a 7.7 percent dip in Montana; 6.9 percent in Washington and Utah; 6.8 percent in Wyoming; 6.7 percent in Nevada; and 6.2 percent in Kansas.

The June driving data, collected by more than 4,000 automatic traffic recorders operated round-the-clock by state highway agencies, was supported by a telephone survey of people 50 or older, a large group that likely factors prominently in the overall declines.

Almost 70 percent of people in that age group said they had cut back on their driving because of high gas prices. Four in 10 said they used public transportation, walked or rode a bicycle more frequently, according to an AARP poll that was released Wednesday.

Elinior Ginzler, AARP's senior vice president for livable communities, said she's concerned that communities don't have adequate sidewalks, bus shelters, bike lanes and public transportation options as more people look for other means to get around.

"More Americans age 50-plus are trying to leave their cars behind but face obstacles as soon as they walk out the door, climb on their bikes or head for the bus," Ginzler said.

Nancy Thompson, a spokeswoman for AARP, noted that Maine is not a "complete street" state, meaning it does not include sidewalks, bike paths and bus shelters when it builds or rebuilds streets.

"We think incomplete streets are a disincentive to people walking, biking or taking public transportation," Thompson said.

At least some people are happy to see a decrease in driving.

"There is at least one silver lining in what's otherwise fairly painful news, and that is that less driving means less air pollution and fewer global warming emissions," said Frank O'Donnell of the environmental group Clean Air Watch.

Staff and wire reports August 14, 2008


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