Miles driven across the U.S. in October dropped slightly after several months of increases, down .5 percent compared to last year according to the latest report from the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), a
division of the Department of Transportation. During October, 250.8 billion vehicle miles were driven, representing a drop of 1.3 billion vehicle miles from the previous year.
In September 2009, however, traffic was up over September 2008 with 240.3 billion vehicle miles driven.
Overall, cumulative travel is up for 2009. By the close of October 2008, 2,454.0 billion vehicle miles had been driven, compared to 2,458.8 billion vehicle miles driven by the close of October 2009.
The South Atlantic and Western regions were the only ones that reported
an increase over the previous year’s October
report:
Vehicle Miles Driven By Region (in billions)
Northeast (-1/2%)
2008 38.5
2009 38.0
South Atlantic (+0.4%)
2008 52.9
2009 53.1
North Central (-1.3%)
2008 57.2
2009 56.5
South Gulf (-1.2%)
2008 49.2
2009 48.6
West (+0.3%)
2008 54.3
2009 54.5
More information:
Miles Driven Increase Two Straight Months Over 2008 Levels
Industry Expert Says Miles Lost Probably Gone Forever
U.S. Miles Driven Dropped 13 Straight Months Through Nov. ’08