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U.S. drivers set new record number of miles in first half of 2016

Xinhua, August 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Thanks to more fuel-efficient vehicles, lower gas prices and decreased unemployment rate, U.S. motorists drove record-breaking 1.58 trillion miles, equal to 250 roundtrips from Earth to Pluto, in the first half of 2016, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) said Monday.

The number of miles went up 3.3 percent from the same period in 2015 when drivers logged the current record of 1.54 trillion miles, according to the FHWA latest data.

More than 282.3 billion miles were driven this June alone, representing a slight increase from the previous June, the data show.

"The increase in driving highlights the growing demands facing the nation's roads and reaffirms the importance of the 'Fixing America's Surface Transportation' (FAST) Act, the FHWA said in a press release.

Under the FAST Act, the U.S. authorities will invest 305 billion dollars in the country's surface transportation infrastructure, including 226 billion dollars for roads and bridges until 2020. Enditem