Table 5-4: Highway, Demographic, and Geographic Characteristics of 30 Largest Urbanized Areas: 2008
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Table 5-4: Highway, Demographic, and Geographic Characteristics of 30 Largest Urbanized Areas: 2008
| Federal-aid urbanized area1 | State(s) | Estimated population (thousands) | Net land area (square miles) | Persons per square mile | Total roadway miles | Miles of roadway per thousand persons | Total DVMT (thousands) | Total DVMT per capita | Total estimated freeway lane miles2 | Average daily traffic per freeway lane mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark | NY, NJ, CT | 18,704 | 4,485 | 4,170 | 43,697 | 2.3 | 299,125 | 16.0 | 7,225 | 16,151 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana | CA | 12,448 | 1,971 | 6,316 | 24,897 | 2.0 | 275,665 | 22.0 | 5,607 | 23,572 |
| Chicago | IL, IN | 9,035 | 3,624 | 2,638 | 25,951 | 2.9 | 172,793 | 19.1 | 3,021 | 18,379 |
| Miami | FL | 5,431 | 1,499 | 3,623 | 15,761 | 2.9 | 129,658 | 23.9 | 2,189 | 18,017 |
| Philadelphia | PA, NJ, DE, MD | 5,297 | 2,257 | 2,347 | 19,459 | 3.7 | 105,820 | 20.0 | 2,413 | 14,850 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | TX | 4,936 | 2,371 | 2,082 | 19,939 | 4.0 | 123,087 | 25.0 | 3,649 | 17,118 |
| Atlanta | GA | 4,548 | 3,027 | 1,503 | 19,879 | 4.4 | 127,008 | 27.9 | 2,515 | 18,200 |
| Washington | VA, MD, DC | 4,368 | 1,305 | 3,347 | 11,987 | 2.7 | 98,702 | 22.6 | 2,078 | 18,372 |
| Boston | MA, NH, RI | 4,131 | 2,241 | 1,843 | 16,969 | 4.0 | 92,756 | 23.0 | 2,550 | 15,657 |
| Detroit | MI | 3,898 | 1,439 | 2,709 | 14,822 | 4.0 | 99,634 | 26.0 | 1,916 | 15,822 |
| Phoenix | AZ | 3,481 | 1,115 | 3,122 | 12,553 | 4.0 | 78,147 | 22.0 | 1,593 | 18,286 |
| San Francisco-Oakland | CA | 3,239 | 1,054 | 3,073 | 7,156 | 2.0 | 69,147 | 21.0 | 1,931 | 19,266 |
| Houston | TX | 3,205 | 1,821 | 1,760 | 17,537 | 6.0 | 106,872 | 33.0 | 3,264 | 16,550 |
| Seattle | WA | 3,152 | 1,185 | 2,660 | 12,019 | 4.0 | 69,800 | 22.0 | 1,856 | 16,019 |
| San Diego | CA | 3,017 | 984 | 3,066 | 5,260 | 2.0 | 68,086 | 23.0 | 1,957 | 19,217 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul | MN | 2,673 | 1,192 | 2,242 | 12,362 | 5.0 | 65,529 | 25.0 | 1,723 | 16,737 |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg | FL | 2,326 | 1,072 | 2,170 | 9,629 | 4.0 | 62,866 | 27.0 | 884 | 15,420 |
| San Juan | PR | 2,319 | 1,075 | 2,157 | 7,634 | 3.0 | 32,334 | 14.0 | 793 | 15,379 |
| St. Louis | MO, IL | 2,227 | 1,359 | 1,639 | 11,214 | 5.0 | 66,114 | 30.0 | 2,344 | 12,566 |
| Denver-Aurora | CO | 2,221 | 814 | 2,729 | 8,345 | 4.0 | 50,784 | 23.0 | 1,255 | 16,032 |
| Baltimore | MD | 2,149 | 683 | 3,146 | 7,195 | 3.0 | 51,426 | 24.0 | 1,557 | 16,757 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino | CA | 1,961 | 747 | 2,625 | 4,969 | 3.0 | 42,836 | 22.0 | 1,118 | 20,994 |
| Sacramento | CA | 1,909 | 446 | 4,280 | 4,838 | 3.0 | 35,086 | 18.0 | 816 | 18,798 |
| Portland | OR, WA | 1,831 | 538 | 3,403 | 7,108 | 3.9 | 34,292 | 18.7 | 785 | 17,027 |
| San Jose | CA | 1,756 | 353 | 4,975 | 3,971 | 2.0 | 36,859 | 21.0 | 898 | 18,205 |
| Cincinnati | OH, KY, IN | 1,747 | 959 | 1,822 | 6,880 | 4.0 | 40,623 | 23.0 | 1,232 | 14,808 |
| Pittsburgh | PA | 1,745 | 1,215 | 1,436 | 9,371 | 5.4 | 37,812 | 21.7 | 1,280 | 9,280 |
| Cleveland | OH | 1,713 | 897 | 1,910 | 7,248 | 4.0 | 38,430 | 22.0 | 1,409 | 12,153 |
| Virginia Beach | VA | 1,531 | 1,812 | 845 | 6,545 | 4.0 | 36,507 | 24.0 | 947 | 13,823 |
| Kansas City | MO, KS | 1,530 | 1,049 | 1,459 | 9,128 | 6.0 | 42,066 | 27.5 | 1,919 | 10,969 |
1 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 U.S. Census Bureau. Areas are ranked by population.
2 Lane miles estimated by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
KEY: DVMT = daily vehicle-miles of travel.
NOTE: Ratios are based on unrounded numbers.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics 2008 (Washington, DC: 2009), table HM-72, available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohpi/hss/hsspubs.cfm as of Apr. 5, 2010.