Office of Highway Policy Information - Policy | Federal Highway Administration

April 2011
Updated Table VM-1M*

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YEAR	ITEM	LIGHT DUTY VEHICLES SHORT WB 2/	MOTOR- CYCLES	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/	MOTOR- CYCLES	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-kilometers)
2007	Interstate Rural	234,071	3,021	2,913	69,294	17,812	85,587	303,365	103,399	412,697
2007	Other Arterial Rural	395,689	8,725	3,676	140,448	31,400	53,282	536,137	84,683	633,221
2007	Other Rural	396,487	4,668	3,401	152,133	32,164	27,344	548,619	59,508	616,197
2007	All Rural	1,026,247	16,414	9,990	361,875	81,376	166,213	1,388,121	247,589	1,662,114
2007	Interstate Urban	553,783	4,479	3,362	126,833	26,798	62,566	680,616	89,364	777,820
2007	Other Urban	1,806,700	13,542	10,009	455,363	84,913	67,661	2,262,062	152,574	2,438,187
2007	All Urban	2,360,482	18,020	13,371	582,196	111,711	130,227	2,942,678	241,938	3,216,007
2007	Total Rural and Urban 5/	3,386,729	34,434	23,361	944,071	193,087	296,440	4,330,800	489,527	4,878,121
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 kilometers traveled per vehicle	17,236	4,824	27,996	24,091	23,789	112,486	18,376	45,529	19,175
2007	Person-kilometers of travel (millions) 4/	5,351,032	43,731	495,280	1,636,715	193,087	296,440	6,987,747	489,527	8,016,285
2007	Fuel consumed (thousand liters)	348,386,513	1,896,062	7,658,332	130,063,508	61,839,263	117,155,978	478,450,021	178,995,241	666,999,655
2007	Average fuel consumption per vehicle (liters)	1,773	266	9,178	3,319	7,619	44,456	2,030	16,648	2,622
2007	Average kilometers traveled per liter of fuel consumed	9.7	18.2	3.1	7.3	3.1	2.5	9.0	2.7	7.3

* 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.