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News Digest DOT 74-14

Friday, August 1, 2014

 

U.S. Driving On the Rise, New Data Show.  New estimates released last Friday by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) show that Americans drove 2.969 trillion miles between May 2013 and May 2014, levels not seen since 2008. According to FHWA’s “Traffic Volume Trends” report, a monthly estimate of American driving, traffic in May 2014 was at the highest level for any May since 2007, and the second-highest of any May since data collection began in 1936. In the first five months of this year, U.S. driving stands at 1.2 trillion miles, or the largest since 2008, and more than 264 billion miles in May alone. For the May 2014 data, and all previous monthly reports, visit http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/travel_monitoring/tvt.cfm.  Contact:  Doug Hecox (202) 366-0660.

Maritime Administration and the American Bureau of Shipping Sign Memorandum of Agreement.  The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) have signed a new Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) establishing policies and procedures for the survey and classification of MARAD’s National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF).  The MOA establishes a charter that improves the timelines, efficiency and cost effectiveness for surveys and updates terminology, references and regulations.  The ABS is a classification society that develops and verifies standards for the design, construction and operational maintenance of marine vessels and offshore structures.  The NDRF includes the Ready Reserve Force, federal and state maritime academy training ships, and other unique purpose vessels that are maintained by MARAD for national defense and national emergency purposes. Contact: Kim Strong (202) 366-5807.