US DATA: May vehicle travel up 3% on month against seasonal trend

Quantum Commodity Intelligence – Vehicle miles travelled in the US rose counter-seasonally by 3% on the month to 259,740 miles in May, data from the Federal Highway Administration, part of the US Department of Transportation, showed Wednesday.

Seasonally adjusted miles travelled were also up by 31% versus May 2020 levels, during the depth of the Covid-19 lockdowns that affected the country, and down just 4% versus May 2019 levels.

Car usage typically falls in May, following the Easter holiday in April, but this year it continued to increase, helped by higher vaccinations and Americans' eagerness to travel following months of sheltering.

The largest increases in May were seen on urban interstate and arterial roads, whereas traffic on rural roads was up less significantly.

States such as Florida (+2,033 miles month-on-month), Texas (+1,367 miles) and Michigan (+1,346 miles) saw the biggest monthly gains on an absolute basis.

However, on a relative basis, Northeastern states such as Maine, Massachusets, New Jersey and Washington saw the largest gains in May.

Separate data from the US Department for Transportation released earlier in the week showed the number of trips undertaken by Americans in June stayed relatively flat versus May, at around 1.3 billion trips per day.

Ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, the data also showed trips rising to 1.4 billion per day, the highest figure since September 2019.