American driving has doubled over last generation
New estimates released by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) show that U.S. driving topped 1.54 trillion miles in the first half of 2015, beating the previous record – 1.5 trillion, set in June 2007.
This is more than double the amount driven during the same period in 1981, continuing a trend of America’s driving mileage doubling nearly every generation.
The new data, published in FHWA’s latest “Traffic Volume Trends” report, a monthly estimate of U.S. road travel, show that 275.13 billion miles were driven in June, the most ever in June of any year and the highest VMT (vehicle miles traveled) for the first half of any year – reaffirming calls for increased investment in transportation infrastructure as demand on the nation’s highway system grows.
According to FHWA’s Traffic Volume Trends report, the nation’s driving has increased for 16 months in a row.
The seasonally-adjusted vehicle miles traveled for June 2015 were 261.9 billion miles, a 3.4 percent increase – or 8.7 billion more VMT – compared to the previous June and a .1 percent decrease – or 2 million more miles traveled – compared with May 2015. The estimates include passenger vehicle, bus and truck travel.
