All road and street travel in the U.S. decreased by 12.3%, or 35.3 billion vehicle miles, for August 2020, compared to August 2019, according to the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHA) most recent numbers.
Overall travel for the month is estimated to be 251.3 billion vehicle miles. Cumulative travel for the year went down by 15.3%, or 332.5 billion vehicle miles, to an estimated 1,844.4 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 14.3%. The West region had the next highest percentage decrease in its miles driven, as it went down by 13.1%. The South-Atlantic region had a decrease of 12.5% when compared to the same time period last year. Both the North-Central and the South-Gulf regions went down by 11.1%.
The chart below was provided by the FHA and features year-over-year figures in billions:
Region |
2020 Total Travel in Billions of Miles |
Percentage Change from 2019 |
Northeast |
35.5 |
-14.3 |
South-Atlantic |
53.3 |
-12.5 |
North-Central |
55.9 |
-11.1 |
South-Gulf |
51.7 |
-11.1 |
West |
55.0 |