Traffic Volume Trends - January 2008

Based on preliminary reports from the State Highway Agencies, travel during January 2008 on all roads and streets in the nation changed by -1.7 percent resulting in estimated travel for the month at 226.7** billion vehicle-miles.

This total includes 74.4billion vehicle-miles on rural roads and 152.3billion vehicle-miles on urban roads and streets.

Cumulative Travel changed by -1.7 percent.

Note: Annual travel has been adjusted to match the Highway Performance Monitoring System for 2003. While the adjustment to total travel was less than one percent, rural travel declined 5% and urban travel increased 4% because of this adjustment. The larger changes to rural and urban travel are primarily because of the expansion in urban boundaries reflected in the 2000 census. Travel estimates for 2004 and beyond will also reflect this adjustment.

Travel for the current month, the cumulative yearly total, as well as the moving 12-month total on all roads and streets is shown below. Similar totals for each year since 1983 are also included.

Travel in Millions of Vehicle Miles
All Roads and Streets

Traffic Volume Trends is a monthly report based on hourly traffic count data. These data, collected at approximately 4,000 continuous traffic counting locations nationwide, are used to determine the percent change in traffic for the current month compared to the same month in the previous year. This percent change is applied to the travel for the same month of the previous year to obtain an estimate of travel for the current month. Because of the limited sample sizes, caution should be used with theses estimates. The highway Performance Monitoring System provides more accurate information on an anual basis.

** System entries may not add up to the give "All Systems" total due to rounding on pages 2 to 8.