Report: Americans Drive a Record 3.148 Trillion Miles in 2015

According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Americans drove a record 3.148 trillion miles last year, shattering the previous 3.003-trillion-mile record set in 2007. To put this number in perspective, a person could complete roughly 337 round trips from Earth to Pluto in the same amount of miles.

The data published in FHWA’s “Traffic Volume Trends” report showed that 268.5 billion of those miles were driven in December alone, an increase of 4 percent compared to 2014. The mileage count includes busses, passenger vehicles, and truck travel.

Total mileage increased across the U.S., with traffic in the West that includes a 13-state region, racking up a total mileage of 61.6 billion miles. Meanwhile in the Northeast, a smaller nine-state area, the least miles of any region were driven at 38.7 billion. California had the largest single-state traffic percent increase of 11.3 percent over last year, followed by Hawaii at 7.2, and Arkansas at 6.2.

These reports show that the “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation” (FAST) Act was enacted just in time. This new act will invest $305 billion into America’s transportation infrastructure over the next five years, including $226 billion for roads and bridges. With drivers continuing to increase the amount of miles driven, the FAST Act should be very beneficial.

Source: Federal Highway Administration

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