The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently released statistics that showed U.S. drivers traveled approximately 746 billion miles during the first three months of this year, breaking the previous three-month record of 720.1 billion set last year.
This report was published in the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) “Traffic Volume Trends" report, a monthly estimate of how many miles are traveled by vehicles. The report said the distance traveled during these months is approximately 286.9 times the distance that has been covered by the International Space Station (ISS) since its launch in 1998.
The report said Americans traveled approximately 273.4 billion miles via road vehicles in March alone, and the DOT said this further illustrates that there is a growing need to maintain the roads and other U.S. transportation infrastructure.
The DOT said the report falls in line with projections of a 43 percent boost in commercial truck shipments and a population surge of 70 million by 2045. These estimates were made as part of the DOT's “Beyond Traffic” report released last year.
The FHWA report said Maryland showed the largest increase in road miles traveled in March, with an 8.1 percent surge. Wyoming saw the largest decrease in traffic volume, down 3.5 percent.
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