All road and street travel in the U.S. decreased by 8.6%, or 23.4 billion vehicle miles, for September 2020, compared to September 2019, according to the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHA) most recent numbers.
Overall travel for the month is estimated to be 248.3 billion vehicle miles. Cumulative travel for the year went down by 14.5%, or 355.5 billion vehicle miles, to an estimated 2,093.1 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 10.6%. The West region had the next highest percentage decrease in its miles driven, as it went down by 8.6%. The North-Central region had a decrease of 8.4%. The South-Atlantic region following close behind the North-Central region with a decrease of 8.3% when compared to the same time period last year. The South-Gulf region went down by 7.8% when compared to its 2019 results during the same time period.
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 |
-10.6 |
South-Atlantic |
53.2 |
-8.3 |
North-Central |
55.8 |
-8.4 |
South-Gulf |
51.4 |
-7.8 |
West |
52.4 |
-8.6 |