U.S. driving slid for the eighth straight month in June, making the decline more pronounced that the drop that occurred during the 1970s oil shock.The U.S. Department of Transportation said Americans drove 12.2 billion miles less in June than a year earlier. With that, the decline since November is now 53.2 billion miles, topping the 49.3 billion decline three decades ago. Rural travel has fallen 4% since late last year, while urban driving is off just 1.2%. (See the Federal highway Administration data.)
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters used the latest data to again call for a rethinking of how the nation's transportation network is funded. Federal gas taxes have declined as Americans curb their driving habit amid record gas prices.
Oil prices have slid over the past month, and gasoline prices are off their peak, but Ms. Peters sees trouble ahead in long-term transportation trends.
"We can't afford to continue pinning our transportation network's future to the gas tax," Ms. Peters said Wednesday. "Advances in higher fuel-efficiency vehicles and alternative fuels are making the gas tax an even less sustainable support for funding roads, bridges and transit systems."