Ford Motor Co. reported a positive end to 2009 with its December sales rising 33 percent from the same month a year earlier to 197,017 cars and trucks. However, for the entire year, Ford's sales were down 15 percent to 1.62 million vehicles.

That was better than its two U.S. rivals, however. General Motors Co. reported a sales drop of 30 percent from 2008 to 2009; the plunge at Chrysler Group LLC was 36 percent.

Several foreign competitors also experienced declining sales last year, including Toyota, which had a 20 percent drop. Hyundai and Kia were among the few manufacturers to see more American business in 2009 with sales increases of 8 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

The Earth Policy Institute released a report Wednesday indicating manufacturers sold only 10 million new cars in the United States in 2009, down from the range of 15 million to 17 million new-car sales seen from 1994 to 2007. There were 14 million used cars scrapped in 2009, the report notes, meaning the American vehicle fleet dropped from 250 million to 246 million -- the first shrinkage in more than six decades.

Market saturation, ongoing urbanization, economic uncertainty, oil insecurity, rising gasoline prices, frustration with traffic congestion, mounting concerns about climate change, and a declining interest in car ownership among young Americans all contributed to the fleet reduction seen in 2009, the report notes.

The number of vehicles in America (246 million) still exceeds the number of licensed drivers (209 million) by 18 percent.

America's vehicle fleet will continue decreasing in future years, the report predicts.

"The coming shrinkage of the U.S. car fleet also means that there will be little need to build new roads and highways," said Lester Brown, Earth Policy Institute president. "Fewer cars on the road reduces highway and street maintenance costs and lessens demand for parking lots and parking garages. It also sets the stage for greater investment in public transit and high-speed intercity rail."

John Horsley, AASHTO executive director, said Brown appears to be overstating the significance of the fall off in auto sales. A better indication of how much Americans are traveling and how much they depend on highways is the numbers of miles driven, also referred to as "vehicle miles traveled," Horsley said. VMT grew in the past decade and the past year.

VMT in the United States increased 10 percent from 2000 (2.747 trillion miles) to 2007 (3.030 trillion miles), then dropped by 3.5 percent in 2008 as a result of the recession to 2.923 trillion, according to Federal Highway Administration data. Vehicle miles traveled rebounded in 2009 with FHWA data showing a 0.2 percent increase for the first 10 months of the year. (see Dec. 30 AASHTO Journal story)

While driving went up slightly during the first three quarters of 2009, transit ridership fell 3.8 percent during that period, according to the American Public Transportation Association. (see Dec. 30 AASHTO Journal story)

Horsley stressed that while the number of vehicles in America might have gone down last year, that does not diminish the country's need for new highway capacity and increased maintenance funding as the economy and population expand in the near future. Nor does a slight downturn in transit ridership remove the necessity of increasing service to meet future demands, he added.

"America is expected to grow by an additional 100 million people over the next three to four decades," Horsley said. "To meet their travel needs, the country will need to invest in more highway, transit, and intercity rail capacity."