by Calculated Risk on 6/03/2020 01:31:00 PM

This will be interesting to track. The most recent release is for March 2020.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) reported:

Travel on all roads and streets changed by -18.6% (-50.6 billion vehicle miles) for March 2020 as compared with March 2019. Travel for the month is estimated to be 221.0 billion vehicle miles.

The seasonally adjusted vehicle miles traveled for March 2020 is 221.1 billion miles, a -18.5% (-50.3 billion vehicle miles) decline from March 2019. It also represents -19.3% decline (-52.9 billion vehicle miles) compared with February 2020.

Cumulative Travel for 2020 changed by -5.4% (-40.1 billion vehicle miles). The cumulative estimate for the year is 706.5 billion vehicle miles of travel.

Click on graph for larger image.

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

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

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

This graph shows the YoY change in vehicle miles driven.

Miles driven were down 18.6% year-over-year in March.