Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Highway Expansion

Americans Are Driving Less, But Road Expansion Is Accelerating

Notice how the new lane miles and miles driven depart in the upper right hand corner of this chart, via FHWA.
Starting around 2005, driving leveled off, but transportation agencies continued to expand roads. Click to enlarge. Chart: FHWA
false

Americans drive fewer miles today than in 2005, but since that time the nation has built 317,000 lane-miles of new roads -- or about 40,000 miles per year. Maybe that helps explain why America's infrastructure is falling apart.

The new data on road construction comes from the Federal Highway Administration and reached our attention via Tony Dutzik at the Frontier Group, which studies trends in driving. In 2005, Americans drove just above a combined 3 trillion miles. Almost a decade later, in 2013, the last year for which data was available, they were driving about 45 billion less annually -- so total driving behavior had declined slightly. Meanwhile, road construction continued as if demand was never higher.

Between 2005 and 2013, states and the federal government poured about $27 billion a year into road expansion. According to FHWA data, road expansion was spread across highways and surface streets fairly uniformly.

That's actually a faster pace than in previous decades, Dutzik points out. For the whole of the 1990s -- when gas was cheap and sprawl development was booming -- the country added, on average, about 17,000 lane-miles a year, less than half the current rate.

This is further evidence that America's "infrastructure crisis" is due in large part to spending choices that favor new construction over maintenance.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Universal Daylighting Has Majority Support on the City Council — Will Speaker Adams Give It a Vote?

Adrienne Adams is sitting on a landmark daylighting bill that could make every intersection safer for pedestrians.

July 9, 2025

‘Anti-Car Crusade’: Dinowitzes Slam Bronx Harlem River Greenway Bike Lane Touted by Mayor

The father-son duo are throwing a tantrum over the first leg of Mayor Adams's Harlem River Greenway.

July 8, 2025

Eyes on the Street: DOT’s ‘Broadway Vision’ Starts to Clear Up

The Department of Transportation has transformed Broadway into a new corridor for pedestrians and cyclists.

July 8, 2025

Amsterdam Leads the Way on E-Bike Regulation — Should New York Follow Suit?

The city's biking- and walking-friendly streets expose the hypocrisy harsh e-bike enforcement without better street design.

July 8, 2025

Tuesday’s Headlines: Rethinking Avenue B Edition

DOT is taking feedback on the future of Avenue B. Plus more news.

July 8, 2025
See all posts