by Calculated Risk on 5/06/2020 12:13:00 PM

This will be interesting to track. The most recent release is for February 2020. The data for March will be released mid-month.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) reported:

Travel on all roads and streets changed by 2.2% (4.9 billion vehicle miles) for February 2020 as compared with February 2019. Travel for the month is estimated to be 231.7 billion vehicle miles.

The seasonally adjusted vehicle miles traveled for February 2020 is 274.3 billion miles, a 2.3% (6.1 billion vehicle miles) increase over February 2019. It also represents -0.2% decline (-0.4 billion vehicle miles) compared with January 2020.

Cumulative Travel for 2020 changed by 2.1% (10.1 billion vehicle miles). The cumulative estimate for the year is 485.3 billion vehicle miles of travel.

The following graph shows the rolling 12 month total vehicle miles driven to remove the seasonal factors.

Click on graph for larger image.

Miles driven declined during the great recession, and the rolling 12 months stayed below the previous peak for a record 85 months.

Miles driven will decline sharply in March, and will really collapse in April. This will be an interesting measure to watch when the economy eventually starts to recover.