Did You Know?

• Arizona has generally doubled its population every 20 years since 1900. From 1990 to 2000, Arizona was the second fastest-growing state in the nation by percentage.
   
• In the next 20 years the population of Maricopa County is projected to increase almost 50%, while travel in the Valley will increase 58%.
   
• The density of Maricopa County increased from 1960 to 1990, a trend that continued through 2000. 
   
• Today, two cities in Maricopa County have populations of more than 250,000 people.  By 2040, nine cities in Maricopa County are projected to have more than a quarter-of-a-million residents.
   
• In 2000, about 15% of the people in the Valley were 60 years old or older. That percentage is projected to increase to more than 26% in 2040.
   
• From 1985 to 2007 nearly 150 miles of new freeways will have been built in the Valley.
   
• National research shows that driving alone to work is the increasing dominant mode of travel. Nationally the number of trips per person has increased although the average trip length has not.
   
• Residents in Maricopa County currently take 13 million vehicle trips on an average weekday, covering 67 million miles.  The number of vehicle trips are projected to increase 140% over the next 40 years, while the number of miles traveled will increase 160%.
   
• Nationally, from 1969 to 1997, the number of households with two or more vehicles doubled from 30% to 60%, despite a decline in the size of the average American household.
   
• The metropolitan Phoenix area ranked 31^st among the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas for the number of vehicles per household as of 1990. 
   
• Nationally, 22% of all person trips are made as a result of job commutes.
   
• Nationally, the average number of cars and trucks traveling on freeways (per-lane), total miles traveled, and average speed of those vehicles has been increasing in recent years.  In spite of that, between 1970 and 1998, the number of annual highway fatalities declined from 53,000 to 41,000.
   
• By 2040, road congestion is expected to extend throughout the Valley region instead of being concentrated in the central portion of the metropolitan area as it tends to be today.
   
• In 1997 personal vehicles consumed 84% of the energy used for personal mobility in the United States.  Air travel consumed 13% while buses and trains accounted for less than 2%.
   
• Because of better engines and fuels, motor vehicles produce less overall pollution today than they did 25 years ago despite the fact that travel has more than doubled.
   
• In Maricopa County, about 40,000 adults travel 450,000 miles to work by bicycle each day.
   
• Shopping from home and increased package delivery is a growing trend.  One study estimates that the percentage of retail sales that will take place in typical stores will decline from 85% in 1992 to 45% by 2010.