FORT WAYNE – The National Weather Service in northern Indiana says northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio are likely to see more record-breaking heat on Monday.FORT WAYNE – After years of decline, Allen County motorists started driving a bit more in 2011.
Drivers averaged traveling nearly 7.2 million miles per business day in Allen County last year, according to a report released Tuesday to the Urban Transportation Advisory Board. This is a 1.4 percent increase over travel in 2010.
Dan Avery, director of the Northeast Indiana Regional Coordinating Council, the local transportation planning agency, said miles traveled typically correlate to economic activity. The fact people are driving more could mean the economy is also picking up locally, he said.
Vehicle miles traveled had decreased every year since 2007, when county drivers hit a peak of 7.4 million miles per business day.
Beth Mosher, director of public affairs for the AAA Motor Club in Chicago, said the jump is somewhat surprising because drivers faced higher prices at the pump last year than in 2010. Nationally, gas prices averaged $3.51 per gallon last year compared to $2.78 in 2010. Higher prices typically have historically led to fewer miles being traveled, she said.
“That would point to the fact that the economy was picking up a little in 2011,” Mosher said.
While national data were not yet available, Mosher said hopes for more travel this year had an ominous beginning. She said demand for gasoline has been down about 5.5 percent this year thanks to the highest January gasoline prices on record. These prices were 30 cents higher than January 2010 pump prices, which was the previous record high.
“That’s a little bit foreboding,” she said.
Fuel prices have affected how much people travel locally. Where there used to be a spike throughout the summer, travel now increases in June, but drops in July and August as gas prices peak, according to the presentation to the advisory board.
The local driving rate is higher than in 1990 – 5.3 million miles – or in 2000, when drivers traveled nearly 6.9 million miles each day.
The local transportation agency calculates total miles driven from data collected by tubes placed across roads throughout both urban and suburban areas of the county. About 700 counts are done each year, and the state measures traffic on the interstates every other year – the last time in 2010.
The miles counted locally does not include neighborhood streets, which could add 1 million miles more a day, but Avery previously said those streets are rarely measured and have fairly consistent traffic from year to year.
