There's fewer cars on the road. Thank high gas prices

By Austin Wright

While rush-hour congestion and tunnel backups remain a way of life in Hampton Roads, state traffic counters say the volume of traffic has declined this year.

Traffic in the region dropped 3.1 percent in the first half of 2008 compared with the first half of 2007, a rare trend that local experts attribute to rising gas prices.

The decline was most pronounced in recent months, when gasoline prices hit record highs. Preliminary June statistics show traffic down 4.2 percent from last June, the steepest drop.

Every year, the volume of traffic tends to increase each month as the weather gets warmer. The same trend occurred in 2008, but this year each month's traffic count is smaller than the same month in 2007.

The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission compiled the numbers by counting vehicles at 56 traffic monitoring sensors throughout the region. The sensors counted 293 million vehicle s in the first five months of 2008, down 8.8 million from the first five months of 2007.

"The cost of fuel has gone up, and people are trying to reduce their number of trips," said Camelia Ravanbakht, the commission's principal transportation engineer.

Though long-term statistics weren't available, Ravanbakht said, since the commission started doing this type of traffic analysis in 2000, there's been only one other significant traffic decline in Hampton Roads: a quick drop in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina.

She said local traffic typically increases each year by about 2 percent.

"I've seen less traffic recently," said Jason Johnson, who commutes from his home in Norfolk to his job in Portsmouth. "I get home quicker from work by about 20 to 30 minutes."

Not everyone notices the change.

Bill Mick, a retired senior chief in the military who was in downtown Norfolk's MacArthur Center mall on Wednesday, said he thinks few people have altered their habits because of rising gas prices.

"I clean houses in the Outer Banks, and I have not, in any way possible, seen any decline in traffic," said Mick, who was one of nine Hampton Roads residents interviewed this week about their driving habits.

"I think it's probably a good thing," said Darryl Stubbs, who's lived in Virginia Beach about 30 years. "People are starting to conserve."

The largest decline was detected by a sensor on Interstate 564 North between International Terminal Boulevard and Hampton Boulevard, where there was 7.1 percent less traffic from January through June 2008 than in the same period last year. Twenty-one locations showed decreases of 4 percent or more - five are on I-64.

Only a handful of the 56 sensors recorded increases from last year. They include: Independence Boulevard near Pembroke Boulevard, Oceana Boulevard near Virginia Beach Boulevard - both in Virginia Beach - and the Midtown Tunnel in Norfolk.

Nationally, Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer highway miles in April 2008 than in April 2007, according to a report by the Federal Highway Administration. The report says national road travel fell 2.1 percent in the first four months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007, the first drop in more than 30 years.

"This is the sharpest decline in driving that Americans have ever seen in such a short period of time," said Doug Hecox, spokesman for the administration. "There's a phenomenon going on that needs to be addressed."

A downside to less driving is that the Highway Trust Fund's revenue declines because the fund collects an 18.4-cent tax for every gallon of gas sold. Maintenance needs are growing as roads age, Hecox said, but maintenance funds are dropping as gas prices rise and people buy less.

Gas consumption fell 0.4 percent nationwide this January compared to last January, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

Virginians consumed more than 300 million gallons of gasoline in January - the most recent month with available data - but 1.2 percent less than in January 2007, according to the federal agency.

"Without doing some research, we can only assume that the gas prices are limiting people's ability to get around," said Harry Kenyon, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Transportation.

The traffic sensors that measure Hampton Roads driving habits are managed by VDOT, which sends the information to the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission for analysis.

The sensors, placed along major interstates, roads and intersections, include wires under the road, radars fixed to poles and sound detectors that typically are placed on interstate ramps.

Austin Wright, (757) 446-2667, austin.wright@pilotonline.com