TRENDS IN AUTOMOBILE USE
Almost 80 percent of all American families owned automobiles in 1966 as compared with 59 percent in 1950; 25 percent of all families owned two or more automobiles in 1966 as com- pared with 7 percent in 1950. (Refer to fig. 1.6. The total number of registered motor vehicles rose during those 16 years from 49.3 million to 94.2 million. In 1967, this number increased to 98 million.
Figure 1.6. Automobile ownership, 1950-66.
SOURCE: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1967, Table No. 820. Under the interstate highway program alone, some 14 per- cent of the highway mileage constructed and 45 percent of the money spent has been or will be spent in urban areas which occupy only about 2 percent of the Nation's land area. Figures on trips by types of vehicle dramatically illustrate the heavy dependency on the automobile. According to the 1960 census, 67 percent of all employed persons living in the Nation's metropolitan areas traveled to work in automobiles. It is estimated that in every metropolitan area, more than 75 percent of all trips are made by car. In some, the figure is 90 percent or higher.
The causes of the present heavy reliance on the automobile are complex, but this development is impossible to separate from scattered low density suburban development. The auto- mobile made possible widespread and rapid suburban growth; in turn, low density communities away from central cities fos- tered increasing dependence on the automobile.13
