Official US Government Icon

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure Site Icon

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

New FHWA Report Reveals States with the Busiest Highways

Thursday, August 1, 2019

FHWA 35-13             

New FHWA Report Reveals States with the Busiest Highways
California, Texas and Florida Highways Among Nation’s Most Heavily Traveled

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) today released a new report on the nation’s busiest interstates that shows people drove more than 84.7 billion miles on California highways in 2011 – more than 900 times the distance from Earth to the Sun – making the Golden State’s highways the nation’s busiest. Overall, vehicles traveled 2.95 trillion miles on U.S. roads in 2011 – the eighth-highest level ever recorded, and nearly double the amount traveled in 1980.

“Better information means cities and states can more efficiently target congestion and help people get home from work faster,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.  “Over the past four years, DOT has improved more than 331,000 miles of roads with federal funds, but we know there’s a lot of work that still needs to be done.  Information like this, along with new construction and design technologies, help us stretch our dollars further, making a bigger difference for even more people.”

Traffic volume data from 2011, the most recent year available, show that the I-5 in California was the nation’s busiest interstate, with 21.4 billion miles traveled that year. California’s neighboring I-10 and I-110 followed as the second and third busiest, respectively. Los Angeles’ section of I-405 serves an estimated 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.

“Data like these help us better understand the highway system and its needs,” said Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez. “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.”

The FHWA's Highway Performance Monitoring System computes miles-traveled data for all interstates and highways. These data are based on thousands of automatic traffic recorders operated round-the-clock by state departments of transportation. More comprehensive data are published annually in the FHWA's “Highway Statistics.”

America’s Ten Busiest States (by interstate vehicle-miles traveled) in 2011

California

84.681 billion

Texas

55.734 billion

Florida

34.689 billion

Ohio

31.389 billion

Illinois

31.033 billion

Georgia

28.467 billion

Virginia

24.062 billion

Pennsylvania

23.662 billion

North Carolina

21.241 billion

Michigan

20.707 billion

To see a complete list of the data, available by state and interstate, visit the FHWA’s “U.S. Interstate Traffic Volume Analysis” at www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstatebrief2011

# # #