Fewer people on highways in January

Americans drove less in January, marking the first monthly decline in 12 months as revised data showed travel did not decline as much as previously thought in 2009, the Transportation Department said on Monday.

The 1.6 percent decline in U.S. highway travel in January could signal that rising gasoline prices are curbing demand in the world's top energy consumer. Pump prices were $2.75 per gallon in January and the government has forecast that prices will soon top $3.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's preliminary estimate for gasoline demand in January is 8.655 million barrels per day, down from 8.690 million bpd a year earlier.

In addition to high gasoline prices, severe winter weather near the beginning of the year likely kept highway travel down in January, said Phil Flynn of PFGBest Research.

"We know the economy is getting better," he said. "It really hasn't translated to strong gasoline demand, but some of that may be that some of the weather we've seen hasn't be conducive to driving," he added.

The dip in highway travel follows the department's revision of many of its monthly travel statistics for 2009. According to the new report, highway travel declined only one month last year. Previously, the department reported that driving declined during five months in 2009.

The revisions are a reflection of adjustments made at the end of each year due to corrections and updates of state data, a department spokesman said.

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Highway travel fell in three regions of the country in January, with the biggest drop in the south Gulf region, made up of eight states from Alabama to Texas. Driving in the region was down 3.3 percent.

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The north central and northeast regions saw an increase in highway travel in January, up 0.3 percent and 1.4 percent respectively.

The Transportation Department tracks motorists through more than 4,000 automatic traffic recorders operated by state highway agencies.

Tom Doggett contributed to this report.