Americans are driving more, again. Streetsblog dares to challenges the Federal Highway Administration on whether that's data worth celebrating.
"This June, Americans drove 8.7 billion more miles than last June, according to [the Federal Highway Administration], a 3.5 percent increase. Total mileage in 2015 is on pace for a new high — finally 'beating the previous record' of 1.5 trillion vehicle miles set 2007," according to an article by Angie Schmitt.
Schmitt's coverage reacts with some shock to the barely contained "glee" implied in the FHWA's reporting of the statistics via press release on August 20. Schmitt's opinion on what the trend of increased driving really means: "more traffic overwhelming city streets, slowing down buses, and spewing pollutants into the air."
Schmitt's concern, however, is that the FHWA’s press release reads like "the explicit goal of American transportation policy is simply to double traffic mileage again by 2050." That assumption, precedes an appeal for "increased transportation investment" in the press release.
So the question is: How should the FHWA, and other federal transportation agencies, frame the news that Americans are driving more and farther than ever before?
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