Travel Still Down, But Only by 1.6 Percent in December 2008 (Compared to December 2007)

Travel during December 2008 on all roads and streets in the United States saw only a modest drop of 1.6 percent from December 2007. (In prior recent months, travel has been down more than 5 percent from 2007.) In December 2008, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration reports that 237.2 billion vehicle miles were driven, compared with 240.9 billion in December 2007-a drop of 3.8 billion miles.

December miles driven were actually up from November, during which only 232.6 billion miles were driven-an increase of 2.0 percent.

Travel actually increased by 0.5 percent in the Northeast in December 2008, compared with December 2007, but continued to drop in all other regions. The Western region say the largest drop since 2007-at a decline of 4.8 percent.

Estimated Miles Driven by Region
(in millions)

Region	Total Miles Traveled in Dec. 2007	Total Miles Traveled in Dec. 2009	Percentage Change
Northeast	37,209	37, 389	+0.5 percent
South-Atlantic	51,389	50,990	-0.8 percent
North-Central	52,073	51,533	-1.0 percent
South-Gulf	45,955	45,563	-0.9 percent
West	54,284	51,677	-4.8 percent
Total	240,912	237,152	-1.6 percent

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