3 Mobility,
"The U.S. transportation network provides a high degree of personal mobility and freight activity. In 1999, the transportation network supported 4.8 trillion passenger-miles and about 3.9 trillion ton-miles. The data in this section confirm that local and long-distance travel and freight shipments continue to grow. Several factors influence this growth: greater vehicle availability, reduced travel costs, population increases, an expanding economy, and higher consumer incomes.",

Table 6,
Per Capita Passenger Travel and Freight Transportation,

,Number
Passenger travel (1995),
"Local trips per person,a annual ","1,568"
"Local trips per person,a daily",4.3
"Long-distance tripsb per person, annual",3.9
"Local miles per person,a annual","14,115"
"Local miles per person,a daily ",39
"Long-distance miles per person, annual domestic only ","3,129"
Freight transportation (1997),
"Tons per person, annual ",55
"Ton-miles per person, annual ","14,383"

a Persons aged 5 and over.  A trip is defined as travel from one address to another address. ,
b Each time a person goes to a destination at least 100 miles away from home and returns. ,
"Notes: Data used for local travel are from the Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey travel-day file and include trips of all lengths made by respondents on a single day; about 95% of these daily trips were 30 miles or less. Per capita calculations are based on population estimates within each survey, not from the Census Bureau estimate reported in the table.",

"Sources: U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Federal Highway Administration, Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey, Our Nation's Travel (Washington, DC: 1997.); USDOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, 1997 Commodity Flow Survey: United States (Washington, DC: 1999); USDOT, BTS, American Travel Survey data, October 1997, person trip and demographic files; plus additional estimates prepared for the BTS by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.",