Daily vehicle miles of travel per person for Portland and the United States
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Compare the Portland metropolitan area's daily vehicle miles of travel (DVMT) per capita and the United States national average, 1990-2010.
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| Year | Portland only DVMT | Portland-Vancouver area DVMT | US national average DVMT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 18.8 | 18.7 | 20.6 |
| 1991 | 19.2 | 18.9 | 19.6 |
| 1992 | 19.8 | 20.2 | 20.2 |
| 1993 | 20.9 | 20.3 | 20.7 |
| 1994 | 20.1 | 20.2 | 21.1 |
| 1995 | 20.9 | 20.8 | 21.5 |
| 1996 | 21.7 | 21.6 | 21.5 |
| 1997 | 20.8 | 20.9 | 22.3 |
| 1998 | 21.0 | 21.1 | 22.3 |
| 1999 | 20.5 | 20.7 | 22.4 |
| 2000 | 20.0 | 20.3 | 22.2 |
| 2001 | 19.8 | 20 | 22.4 |
| 2002 | 19.5 | 19.8 | 22.8 |
| 2003 | 19.5 | 19.3 | 23.1 |
| 2004 | 20.7 | 20.2 | 23.7 |
| 2005 | 20.9 | 20.3 | 23.8 |
| 2006 |
20.0 | 19.9 | 23.4 |
| 2007 |
20.0 | 19.5 | 23.3 |
| 2008 | 19.3 | 18.7 | 22.7 |
| 2009 | 19.19 | 18.65 | not yet available |
| 2010 | 19.15 | 18.77 | not yet available |
Notes
The sample geographic areas for VMT are based on the "Census Defined Urban Areas," and change every 10 years, as the census data changes. It is important to note that there is a time lag between when the census data was collected, and the implementation of the new "Census Defined Urban Area or Boundary." In the above graph, the implementation of the 1990 Census boundary does not appear until 1993 for Portland only (noted by the uptick in 1993). The use of the new 2000 Census boundary did not occur until 2004, for Portland only; note a similar increase upward in the graph in 2004.
2009-10 data sources: The data for Portland was received from the Oregon Highway Performance Monitoring System office. The information for Vancouver was received from the Washington State HPMS office. Both sets of data were the official state submittals to the Federal Highway Administration's office in Washington, D.C. The information is subject to review by the FHWA, and may change by the time the data is published. As per correspondence with the FHWA in November 2011, the data may be developed and published in 2012. (The last website check for 2009-10 data was April 3, 2012.)
1990-2008 data and U.S. national averages for urban areas are from information published by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration in Washington, D.C. DVMT/ Person can be located in the FHWA's publication Highway Statistics; 4.4.5 Urbanized Area Summaries, Section 4.4.5.2, Selected Characteristics, Table HM-72.
- The website for Highway Statistics series and table HM-72, as of April 3, 2012 is http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm.
- The 2008 data is located at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2008/hm72.cfm.
The national average of DVMT per person is calculated from "Total DVMT," for all Federal-Aid Urban Areas, divided by total "Estimated Population," as it appears on Sheet 9, of Table HM-72; which lists all the Federal-Aid Urbanized Areas in the U.S.
"A Federal-Aid Urbanized Area is an area with 50,000 or more persons that at a minimum encompasses the land area delineated as the urbanized area by the Bureau of the Census." (from Sheet 9, Table HM-72, as noted above).
Portland-Vancouver, OR-WA is a Federal-Aid Urbanized Area (UZA-27). The geographic area for each component (the Oregon and Washington portions of the Portland-Vancouver data set) are uniquely defined by the FHWA.