Office of Highway Policy Information - Policy | Federal Highway Administration

April 2011
Updated Table VM-1*

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YEAR	ITEM	LIGHT DUTY VEHICLES SHORT WB 2/	MOTORCYCLES	BUSES	LIGHT DUTY VEHICLES LONG WB 2/	SINGLE-UNIT TRUCKS 3/	COMBINATION TRUCKS	SUBTOTALS		ALL MOTOR VEHICLES
YEAR	ITEM	LIGHT DUTY VEHICLES SHORT WB 2/	MOTORCYCLES	BUSES	LIGHT DUTY VEHICLES LONG WB 2/	SINGLE-UNIT TRUCKS 3/	COMBINATION TRUCKS	ALL LIGHT DUTY VEHICLES /2	SINGLE-UNIT 2-AXLE 6-TIRE OR MORE AND COMBINATION TRUCKS	ALL MOTOR VEHICLES
	Motor-Vehicle Travel: (millions of vehicle-miles)
2007	Interstate Rural	145,445	1,877	1,810	43,057	11,068	53,181	188,502	64,249	256,438
2007	Other Arterial Rural	245,870	5,421	2,284	87,270	19,511	33,108	333,140	52,619	393,465
2007	Other Rural	246,365	2,901	2,113	94,531	19,986	16,991	340,896	36,977	382,887
2007	All Rural	637,680	10,199	6,207	224,859	50,565	103,280	862,539	153,845	1,032,790
2007	Interstate Urban	344,105	2,783	2,089	78,811	16,652	38,877	422,915	55,528	483,315
2007	Other Urban	1,122,631	8,414	6,219	282,949	52,762	42,043	1,405,580	94,805	1,515,019
2007	All Urban	1,466,736	11,197	8,308	361,760	69,414	80,919	1,828,496	150,333	1,998,334
2007	Total Rural and Urban 5/	2,104,416	21,396	14,516	586,618	119,979	184,199	2,691,034	304,178	3,031,124
2007	Number of motor vehicles registered 2/	196,491,176	7,138,476	834,436	39,186,974	8,116,672	2,635,347	235,678,150	10,752,019	254,403,081
2007	Average miles traveled per vehicle	10,710	2,997	17,396	14,970	14,782	69,896	11,418	28,290	11,915
2007	Person-miles of travel (millions) 4/	3,324,977	27,173	307,753	1,017,007	119,979	184,199	4,341,984	304,178	4,981,088
2007	Fuel consumed (thousand gallons)	92,033,980	500,887	2,023,117	34,359,144	16,336,205	30,949,335	126,393,124	47,285,540	176,202,668
2007	Average fuel consumption per vehicle (gallons)	468	70	2,425	877	2,013	11,744	536	4,398	693
2007	Average miles traveled per gallon of fuel consumed	22.9	42.7	7.2	17.1	7.3	6.0	21.3	6.4	17.2

* The current update is based on an enhanced methodology implemented in March 2011

1/ The FHWA estimates national trends by using State reported Highway Performance and Monitoring System (HPMS) data, fuel consumption data (MF-21 and MF-27), vehicle registration data (MV-1, MV-9, and MV-10), other data such as the R. L. Polk vehicle data, and a host of modeling techniques. Starting with the 2009 VM-1, an enhanced methodology is used to provide timely indictors on both travel and travel behavior changes.

2/ Light Duty Vehicles Short WB – passenger cars, light trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles with a wheelbase (WB) equal to or less than 121 inches. Light Duty Vehicles Long WB - large passenger cars, vans, pickup trucks, and sport/utility vehicles with wheelbases (WB) larger than 121 inches. All Light Duty Vehicles - passenger cars, light trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles regardless of wheelbase.

3/ Single-Unit – single frame trucks that have 2-Axles and at least 6 tires or a gross vehicle weight rating exceeding 10,000 lbs.

4/ Vehicle occupancy is estimated by the FHWA from the 2001 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS); For single unit truck and heavy trucks, 1 motor vehicle miles travelled = 1 person-miles traveled.

5/ VMT data are based on the latest HPMS data available; it may not match previous published results.

The data now on the website for 2000-2006 were estimated using a methodology developed in the late 1990s. FHWA recently developed a new methodology and used it for this year's Highway Statistics. This methodology takes advantage of additional and improved information available beginning in 2007 when states were first required to report motorcycle data – before that time, the reporting was not mandatory and the data were missing for a few states. Also, the new methodology does not rely on data from the national vehicle inventory and use survey which provided critical data for the original methodology but was not collected in 2007 as planned.

In April 2011, FHWA recalculated the 2000-2008 data along with the 2009 data to estimate trends. However, after further review and consideration, the agency determined that it is more reliable to retain the original 2000-2006 estimates because the information available for those years does not fully meet the requirements of the new methodology. Thus, the original 2000-2006 estimates are now used, whereas the 2007-2009 data are still based on the new methodology.