All road and street travel in the U.S. decreased by 25.5%, or 72.9 billion vehicle miles, for May 2020, compared to May 2019, according to the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHA) most recent numbers.
Month-over-month miles driven went up by 24.1% when compared to April 2020. Overall travel for the month is estimated to be 213.2 billion vehicle miles. Cumulative travel for the year went down by 17.3%, or 227.2 billion vehicle miles, to an estimated 1,087 billion vehicle miles of travel.
On a year-over-year basis, all of the regions saw decreases in its miles driven. The Northeast region had the largest decrease, as its percentage went down by 33.4%. The North-Central region had the next highest percentage decrease in its miles driven, as it went down by 26.3%. The South-Atlantic wasn’t too far behind the North-Central region, as it decreased by 26.1% when compared to the same time period last year. The West went down by 24.3%, meanwhile, the South-Gulf region went down by 19.8%.
The chart below was provided by the FHA and features year-over-year figures in billions:
|
Region |
2020 Total Travel in Billions |
Percentage Change from 2019 |
|
Northeast |
26.8 |
-33.4 |
|
South-Atlantic |
47.9 |
-26.1 |
|
North-Central |
46.2 |
-26.3 |
|
South-Gulf |
46.0 |
-19.8 |
|
West |
46.3 |
-24.3 |
