Vehicle Miles Traveled

Vehicle miles traveled, or VMT, is the measure of the total miles driven in a specific area in a specific time. A related statistic is VMT per capita which is the average miles driven by a single person in a given amount of time, which is usually 1 day, in a specific region. An example of this is the weekday VMT per capita in Atlanta in 39 miles per day.

1) People who would by interested in this statistic are transportation and environmental agencies, like the DMV or EPA. They are interested in it because using this information they can plan new road locations and city layouts, as well as protect the environment.

2) The Federal Highway Administration collects the data and with it estimates the national VMT and congestion on highways. They report a new VMT every month. The data is compiled more monitoring 4000 traffic counting locations nation wide, and by The National Household Travel Survey which is conducted every 5 years.

3) Total US passenger highway miles (in millions):

2007- 4,958,922

2006- 4,958,922

2005- 4,887,945

The trend for this statistic was that it was steadily increasing, but over the past years due to high gas prices and other environmental campaigns it has plateaued.

"Table 1-37: U.S. Passenger-Miles." Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Research an Innovative Technology Administration, 2010. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_01_37.html>.

Polzin, Steven. "The Case For More Moderate Growth in VMT: A Critical Juncture in U.S. Travel Behavior Trends." USDOT, 3 Nov. 2004. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://nhts.ornl.gov/2001/presentations/VMTGrowth.pdf>.