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Transportation Secretary Slater Says New American Travel Survey Results Underscore Need for
Investment in Infrastructure
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DOT 185-97
Carolee Bush
202-366-6946
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Monday, November 10, 1997 -- U.S. Transportation Secretary
Rodney E. Slater today said that it is more important now than
ever for the United States to continue investment in
transportation safety and infrastructure as he announced the
release of a new American travel survey showing that Americans
travel more than 800 billion miles a year and have nearly doubled
travel on long distance trips in the last 20 years.
"Results of this survey
underscore the importance of President Clinton's proposal for a
strategic investment in transportation infrastructure to maintain
a safe, efficient and environmentally sensitive system,"
Secretary Slater said. "This survey shows how all modes of
transportation are vital to the economy and our quality of life.
"
The 1995 American Travel
Survey: United States Profile from the department's Bureau of
Transportation Statistics (BTS) is the first report in a series
that will present information about long-distance travel habits
in America. The survey is the first comprehensive effort since
1977 to determine where, when and how people travel in the United
States. For the first time, it provides information about how
people get from their homes to other modes of transportation such
as buses, planes and trains.
It shows that Americans are
traveling more and further, and that, for economic and social
purposes, state lines are becoming a blur. Americans took about 1
billion long distance trips during 1995, which accounts for about
25 percent of all travel in the United States.
According to BTS Director T.R.
Lakshmanan, more than half of all highway trips greater than 100
miles cross state lines, and the number of these long distance
trips nearly doubled since 1977. About one-third of these trips
are "bridge traffic," meaning they passed through at
least one state to get to a destination in a third state.
Secretary Slater also expressed
concern about the effect of increased travel on greenhouse gas
emissions. With only four percent of the worlds population,
the United States accounts for 23 percent of the worlds
greenhouse gas emissions. And within transportation, cars and
other light vehicles account for 53 percent of these emissions;
freight trucks, 20 percent; and aviation 10 percent.
In March, President Clinton
proposed continued investment in transportation safety and
infrastructure by urging reauthorization of the Intermodal
Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), through a
$175 billion NEXTEA, the National Economic Crossroads
Transportation Efficiency Act. The landmark bill reaffirmed
safety as his highest transportation priority and includes record
levels of investment to rebuild America and ensure global
competitiveness. It also included values to improve the quality
of life for Americans, especially by serving as a pathway to move
people from welfare to work.
Highlights of the American Travel
Survey include:
- Americans traveled nearly 827 billion miles in 1995 --
enough distance for each person in the United States to
go from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Ore. The average
American traveled more than 3,100 miles on long distance
trips in 1995, up from 1,800 miles in 1977 on trips
longer than 100 miles.
- Cars, light trucks and vans were by far the dominant
means of transportation for long distance trips in 1995,
accounting for more than 80 percent of person trips,
which is about the same as in 1977. Air travel was the
second most popular means of transportation, accounting
for 16 percent of trips, growing from 12 percent in 1977.
- Buses and trains are used relatively infrequently to make
long distance trips compared with cars and airplanes, but
more trips were made by both modes than 20 years ago.
Between 1977 and 1995, the number of bus trips increased
37 percent and train trips, 22 percent. In 1995, there
were 20 million bus trips and 5 million train trips.
- Minority groups increased their trip-making, but white
Americans still travel about twice as much as
African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans.
- Nearly 9 out of 10 air travelers used a car to get to the
airport, and one out of every 10 intercity bus travelers
walked to the bus station; 181 million long-distance
trips, or about one of every five trips, involved the use
of more than one mode.
- People in households with less than $25,000 annual income
are half of all intercity bus riders; about 25 percent of
train riders have less than $25,000 annual income.
- Seventy-four percent of trips longer than 1,000 miles are
by plane, and nearly 25
percent of trips longer than 1,000 miles are by car.
Nearly all travel that is less than 500 miles round trip,
is by car. About four percent is by bus or train and only
two percent is by plane.
The American Travel Survey
represents a partnership between the Transportation Department
and the Department of Commerce's Census Bureau. The Census Bureau
collected data each quarter from nearly 80,000 households for the
survey. BTS designed the survey, provided funding and is
developing a series of data products and interpretative reports
to turn the data into information that will be useful for
planners, designers and users of the United States'
transportation system.
According to Dr. Lakshmanan,
survey data will be used by transportation decision makers in
federal, state and local governments, as well as by
private-sector firms for transportation construction and
maintenance, for analyzing safety data, for developing new
businesses, and for determining the effect of travel on the
nations transportation system. The federal government will
use the information to help develop formulas for allocating
highway funds, and entrepreneurs, such as those in the hotel and
food industries, use the information in offering tourism and
travel services.
This first report from the
survey, along with data about each state, is available on the BTS
Internet site, www.bts.gov/ats. Copies of the survey can be obtained by
calling (202) 366-DATA (3282), by faxing requests to (202)
366-3640, by e-mailing requests to orders@bts.gov, or by writing to the Bureau of
Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation,
Room 3430, 400 Seventh St., S.W., Washington, D.C., 20590.
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