The effect of population density, road network density, and congestion on household gasoline consumption in U.S. urban areas

This paper applies both semiparametric and parametric approaches to explore the effect of population density, freeway road density, and congestion on household gasoline consumption in U.S. urban areas while controlling for household demographic and economic characteristics. Regression results indicate that households living in those urban areas with higher freeway densities, higher levels of congestion, or lower population densities consume more gasoline.