New Data Reveal America’s Traffic Congestion Getting Worse
Travel on American highways climbed to an all-time high in 2005, says U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters.
According to the newly released Highway Statistics 2005, an annual compilation of data reported to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) by all U.S. states and territories, Americans drove nearly three trillion miles on American highways last year. This figure–2,989,807,000,000 vehicle miles traveled–represents a 27.4 billion-mile increase over travel in 2004 and nearly 25 percent more than in 1995.
There were 241.2 million vehicles registered in the United States last year, including 6.2 million motorcycles–the most ever recorded in both categories.
The Highway Statistics series, which consists of statistical data on motor fuel, motor vehicles, driver licensing, highway-user taxation, and state and local government highway finance has been produced each year since 1945.
