The Highway Trust Fund, the federal government's primary source for financing highway, bridge and transit projects, took in $3 billion fewer in Fiscal Year 2008 as Americans drove 90 billion miles less over 11 months of the same fiscal year,
the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Tuesday.

Americans drove 4.4 percent less, or 10.7 billion fewer vehicle miles traveled in September 2008 than September 2007, the 11th straight month of declining driving. The trend is most evident in rural interstate travel, which fell by 8 percent that month, while urban interstate travel declined by 3.9 percent.

As a result of the continued decline in VMT, the Highway Trust Fund, which is primarily funded through federal gas tax receipts, collected $31 billion in revenue between October 2007 and September 2008 - $3 billion less than it collected the previous year, while federal transportation spending increased by $2 billion.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters used the announcement as an opportunity to urge Congress to fundamentally change the nation's approach to financing and managing transportation systems as it works toward reauthorization of the highway program next year.

"Our current approach has us encouraging Americans to change their driving habits and burn less fuel while secretly hoping they drive more so we can finance new bridges, repair interstates and expand transit systems," said Peters. "We need a new approach that complements, instead of contradicts, our energy policies and infrastructure needs."

To review the VMT data in FHWA's "Traffic Volume rends" reports, including that of September 2008, visit http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/tvtw/tvtpage.htm.