July 12, 2017—Annual miles on U.S. roads by all types of vehicles will increase during 2017, marking the sixth consecutive yearly mileage gain, according to a report from Lang Marketing.
Lang Marketing estimates 2017 mileage will mark the third largest annual increase over the past 10 years. However, the 2017 mileage gain will be lower than the last year’s percentage increase.
Annual miles on U.S. roads by all types of vehicles remained flat between 2007 and 2014. Prior to the Great Recession of 2008, annual mileage peaked during 2007 at just over 3 trillion miles. It took until 2015 for this annual driving level to be exceeded.
Between 2014 and 2016, annual miles recorded strong gains for the first time since before the Great Recession of 2008. Mileage on U.S. roads averaged only 0.6 percent annual growth over the past 16 years, the weakest growth rate ever recorded in the U.S. While annual mileage attained only weak growth between 2000 and 2016, the number of cars and light trucks on U.S. roads soared by over 40 million. As a result, annual miles travelled by the average car and light truck on the U.S. roads fell 7 percent between 2000 and 2016.
Lang Marketing projects 2017 miles by all types of vehicles in the U.S. will increase approximately 1.4 percent. While this will be only half the 2.8 percent increase during 2016, it will, nevertheless, rank as the fifth strongest annual percentage mileage gain since 2000.
