Data from the Federal Highway Administration shows Americans drove 3.1 billion or 1.2 percent fewer miles in March than they did during the comparable period last year.

The FHA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation, reported that U.S. drivers traveled an estimated 245.1 billion miles in March. This total includes 82.1 billion vehicle miles on rural roads and 163.0 billion miles on urban roads and streets.

Cumulative travel for the year is estimated at 683.7 billion VMT, a decrease of 11.6 billion miles or 1.7 percent from the comparable 2008 period.

In the North-East region of the U.S., total miles traveled during the month reviewed climbed 0.5 percent from a year ago to 36.9 billion miles. In the South-Atlantic, VMT totaled 50.0 billion miles, a 3.4 percent decline from March 2008, while VMT in the West dropped 3.2 percent on the year to 52.4 billion miles. The North-Central and South-Gulf regions posted a modest 0.3 percent increase in VMT from a year ago to 53.2 billion miles and 50.0 billion miles, respectively.

The FHA data shows a consecutive 16-month trend of declining VMT that started in December 2007 to its most recent monthly update for March. The DOT said an end-of-the year calibration adjusted the November 2007 data, revealing that the trend did not begin during that month as originally reported, but rather in December 2007.