Annual Vehicle Miles Traveled on Maryland Highways

Annual estimates of vehicle miles driven on Maryland's public highways, calculated from short-term traffic counts and highway segment lengths. The data is compiled by the Maryland State Highway Administration and local jurisdictions, with annual updates verified by field crews. It provides a measure of road usage for planning and analysis.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in total 'Annual Vehicle Miles of Travel' over multiple 'YEAR' values to assess changes in statewide road usage.
• Model the relationship between 'Annual Vehicle Miles of Travel' and external factors like economic indicators or fuel prices using the 'YEAR' column for temporal alignment.
• Calculate per-capita or per-road-mile travel metrics by joining this dataset's 'Annual Vehicle Miles of Travel' with population or highway mileage data, using 'YEAR' as a key.
• Benchmark traffic volume and road wear estimates for specific corridors by disaggregating the statewide 'Annual Vehicle Miles of Travel' totals using underlying AADT and segment length data.

Strengths

• Data is derived from systematic 48-hour traffic counts performed on all publicly maintained roads in Maryland.
• Annual updates are field-verified by the State Highway Administration's data collection crews.
• Calculations use a standardized methodology (AVMT = AADT x Section Length x 365) for consistent year-over-year comparison.

Limitations

• The dataset provides only aggregated annual totals ('Annual Vehicle Miles of Travel'), lacking granular spatial (e.g., by road segment) or temporal (e.g., monthly) breakdowns.
• Sample size (number of rows/years) is unknown, which may limit the robustness of long-term trend analysis.
• Relies on factored short-term counts to estimate annual averages, which may not capture daily or seasonal volatility accurately.

Provenance

Source

opendata.maryland.gov, likely the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) and Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA).

Collection Method

Calculated from Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) derived from short-term traffic counts and annual highway mileage reports from local jurisdictions and state offices.

Time Range

Annual data; specific start year is unknown.

Freshness

Last updated on 2025-11-24, indicating recent maintenance.

Geography

State of Maryland, covering all publicly maintained roads including county and municipal highways.