Between 2003 and 2019, annual Vehicle Miles Traveled, or VMT, in the U.S. grew by 13 percent from 2.89 trillion to 3.26 trillion. During that same period, VMT in North Carolina grew from 93.7 billion to 123.1 billion, an overall increase of 31 percent. In total, the state’s VMT increase in this period covered nearly eight percent of the country's total VMT growth.
In August 2019, the N.C. Department of Transportation began the facilitation of a VMT reduction task force and a
VMT Reduction Study. This study identified strategies to reduce vehicle miles traveled in urban, rural and regional areas of North Carolina. The VMT Reduction Study was released in April 2021 and provides summary pages as a comprehensive introductory resource to organizations considering methods to reduce VMT in their areas.