Changes in the Federal Highway Administration Vehicle Travel Data

With the April release of Table VM-1 from Highway Statistics 2009 came several changes to the availability of data on vehicle miles of travel (VMT). From 1966 to 2008, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published the VMT, fuel use, and average fuel economy of 2-axle, 4-tire trucks separately from cars on Table VM-1. The 2-axle, 4-tire truck category included pickups, vans, sport utility vehicles, and other 4-tire trucks. For 2009 data and thereafter, car and 2-axle, 4-tire truck data are aggregated together and reported by the length of the vehicle's wheelbase (short and long). In addition, significant methodology changes were made to the single-unit truck and the combination truck data on VM-1, such that the data are not comparable with the previous years' data. Knowing that comparability would be an issue, the FHWA released revised versions of Table VM-1 going back to the year 2007. You can find the revised data in the Highway Statistics on the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration web site.