Traffic congestion fell in 2008

Traffic congestion fell in 99 of the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas in 2008, according to Inrix, a company that studies data from vehicles equipped with GPS devices. Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) declined about 3 percent on urban interstate highways. Joe Cortright, an economist with the Impresa consulting firm in Portland, Oregon, says the drop in VMT cut peak-hour congestion on major roads in urban areas by 30 percent. “Congestion was lower every hour of every day in 2008 versus 2007 — between 15 and 60 percent lower, depending on the hour and day,” the Inrix study said. The government also reported that traffic fatalities in the US fell in 2008 to their lowest since 1961, when the nation’s population was only half as large. Deaths fell nearly 10 percent from 2007 levels — from 41,059 to 37,313.