Years after the interstate system was born in 1956, DOT has grown into a $77 billion a year federal bureaucracy, the U.S. has the lowest accident fatality record in history and the Highway Trust Fund is bankrupt.
Drivers tallied 2.95 trillion miles during 2011 on U.S. interstate highways, according to a new report from the Federal Highway Administration, or nearly double the number of highway miles traveled in 1980. In California alone, people drove 84.7 billion miles on interstate highways, which makes the Golden State’s highways the busiest in the nation.
In addition to State totals, the report also shows vehicle miles traveled on individual highways. Not surprisingly, California’s I-5 is the busiest in the U.S. at 21.4 billion miles in 2011. The next busiest highways are also in California, I-10 and I-110. The Los Angeles section of I-405 serves 379,000 vehicles per day, making it the busiest interstate in any American city.
Texas came in second, with people driving more than 55.7 billion miles on its interstates, followed by Florida at 34.7 billion miles and Ohio at 31.4 billion miles.
The new analysis also shows “Mean Pavement Roughness” for each roadway, a mathemetical version of mean streets, and that can help planners prioritize highway maintenance for improved safety and reduced bottlenecks. “Analysis of the nation’s traffic patterns and areas of changing traffic volume will lead to safer, less congested roads and greater mobility for all Americans,” claimed FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez.
To see more data, available by state and interstate, visit the FHWA’s “U.S. Interstate Traffic Volume Analysis” at www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstatebrief2011. Also, see “U.S. Interstate Traffic Volume Analysis.”
