US driving data fuels calls for highway investment

New estimates released by the US Department of Transportation's 831 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) show that American driving between July 2013 and June 2014 is at levels not seen since 2008, fuelling calls for greater investment in highways that must bear growing volumes of traffic.

"More people driving means our economy is picking up speed," said US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. "It also means we need to increase our investment in transportation to meet this demand, which is why Congress needs to pass the President's four-year, uS$302 billion Grow America Act."

According to FHWA's Traffic Volume Trends report – a monthly estimate of American travel – drivers in June 2014 logged 261.7 billion vehicle-miles travelled (VMT), the highest level for any June since 2010 and the biggest single-month gain this year. It is the nation's fourth consecutive month of VMT growth.

Americans drove more than 2.97 trillion miles between July 2013 and June 2014, the most recent month for which data are available. In the first half of 2014, drivers travelled 1.466 trillion miles – the largest since 2010 and the fourth-highest in the report's 78-year-history.

"These data are critical to helping the nation's leaders make informed decisions about critical infrastructure investments," said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau. "To ensure our roads, bridges and tunnels can keep pace with the demands of the American public, greater investment is needed – and the Grow America Act is a step in the right direction."