State Roads Seeing More Use

Wisconsin’s roads saw more use during 2012. The state Department of Transportation says motorists traveled more than 59 billion miles on Wisconsin roads last year, up 0.91 percent from 2011. The average state resident drove 10,337 miles on the state’s highways and streets last year, 0.7 percent more than the year before.

The DOT credits the increase to the improving economy, which resulted in more commercial vehicles using the roads to deliver goods. Drier weather, due to an early start to spring and the drought that covered most of the state last summer, also encouraged people to hit the roads.

Wisconsin has almost 113,000 miles of roads. While the interstate and highway system make up just a tenth of that network, they carry almost 60 percent of the traffic.