FHWA just published preliminary VMT numbers for 2022. Americans drove slightly more than the previous year, but still less than before the pandemic. Interestingly, traffic delay was still around 50% lower than pre-pandemic, according to INRIX.

https://ssti.us/2023/03/06/americans-are-still-driving-less-than-before-the-pandemic/ #TravelDemand #Driving #VMT #UrbanPlanning #TrafficModeling #TrafficEngineering #TrafficForecasting

@LaurentFranckx Thanks for sharing! This is a great study showing that self-driving cars could increase travel by 21 to 26% and fuel use by 5 to 10%, in spite of better fuel efficiency.

https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/ejtir/article/view/5842/5499 #AutonomousVehicles #ReboundEffect #ClimatePolicy #TrafficModeling

Potential impacts of autonomous vehicles in #California, from a UCLA policy brief:
- #VMT will increase 9%.
- #GHG emissions will increase 10%.
- Even with better operations, induced demand will lead to more
congestion.

https://escholarship.org/content/qt5nk4n1rc/qt5nk4n1rc.pdf #Climate #ClimatePolicy #AutonomousVehicles #InducedDemand #TrafficModeling #Traffic

My organization has been counting down its most popular blog posts of the year.

#2 The value of travel speed is not often what we think

Investments aimed at moving traffic faster have some benefits, but new research suggests increased speeds don’t offer the same benefits as shorter travel times. As societies become more prosperous, speed becomes less important and bears very little relationship to overall time spent traveling.

https://ssti.us/2022/02/21/the-value-of-travel-speed-is-not-what-we-often-think/

#TrafficEngineering #TrafficModeling