Fact #384: August 8, 2005
The National Highway System, 2003
The National Highway System (NHS) Designation Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-59) was enacted to specify a network of nationally significant highways. It includes the Interstate system plus more than 100,000 miles of arterial and other roads.
The Interstate represents only 1% of the nation's total public road miles and 3% of its lane miles, but carries almost 24% of the travel. Most travel on interstate highways takes place in urban areas even though there are more interstate miles in rural areas.
Supporting Information
| Road Miles |
Share of Road Miles |
Lane Miles |
Share of Lane Miles |
Vehicle Miles of Travel (millions) |
Share of VMT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All public roads | 3,974,107 | 100% | 8,315,109 | 100% | 2,890,893 | 100% |
| National Highway System | 161,393 | 4% | 552,789 | 7% | 1,291,759 | 45% |
| Interstate | 46,508 | 1% | 209,975 | 3% | 702,578 | 24% |
|
Source: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Highway Statistics 2003, Tables HM-41, HM-20, HM-48, and VM-3 | ||||||
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