City Driving Spikes, Rural Driving Falls as Opportunity Shifts

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July 15th, 2017

USA Today: The divide between urban and rural America in widening in another area that has nothing to do with politics: driving.U.S. city driving has spiked since 2000, while rural driving has declined in a sudden turnabout that cannot be explained by population trends, according to a University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute study released Tuesday.

Miles driven in urban environments rose by 33% from 2000 to 2016, according to the study. Miles driven in rural areas fell by 12%. Population changes don’t explain the trend. During the same period, the number of people living in urban areas rose by 19%, while the rural population was flat.