Travel in the United States increased sharply in February, as the milder winter kept fewer people off the roads during the month.

According to the Federal Highway Administration's latest "Travel Trends" report, Americans traveled an estimated 232.22 billion vehicle miles during the month. This total marked an increase of 5.6 percent, or 12.4 billion miles, over February 2015.

The seasonally adjusted total, which takes into account factors such as holidays and weather, stood at 266.1 billion miles. This figure marked a year-over-year increase of 12.8 billion miles, or 5.1 percent. It was also 0.7 percent higher than January's total, a difference of 1.7 billion miles.

In the first two months of the year, the travel total hit an estimated 472.79 billion miles. The moving 12-month total reached 3.15 trillion miles.

The travel total has consistently been lowest in the Northeast region, which includes the New England states as well as New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. However, the region had the second highest increase in travel in February. Drivers in these states covered an estimated 31.82 billion miles during the month, a year-over-year increase of 6.1 percent.

Rhode Island had the second largest increase in travel in the nation, with the travel total increasing 12.2 percent from 448 million miles to 503 million miles. This total included a 12 percent increase in travel on urban arterial roads to 372 million miles and a 13.9 percent increase on rural arterial roads to 47 million miles.

Connecticut travel had a year-over-year increase of 8.5 percent, rising from 2.09 billion miles in February 2015 to 2.27 billion miles this year. Travel on urban arterial roads increased 8.3 percent 1.65 billion miles, while travel on rural arterial roads increased 10 percent to 112 million miles.

Massachusetts had the second highest increase in overall travel in the region, with the estimated total increasing 9.9 percent from 4.06 billion miles in February 2015 to 4.47 billion miles this year. The state also had the largest increase in rural arterial travel in the United States. This total was up 14 percent, from 108 million miles to 123 million miles.

The South Atlantic region, consisting of eight states stretching from Florida to Maryland as well as the District of Columbia, had the largest increase in travel of the five regions identified by the FHWA. The estimated cumulative travel in this region during February was 50.76 billion miles, a 6.7 percent increase from the previous year.

The Western region had the highest cumulative mileage total, but also the smallest increase from February 2015. Drivers in these 13 states traveled an estimated 51.5 billion miles, a year-over-year increase of 5.6 percent.

The North Central region, 12 states ranging from Ohio to North Dakota, was close behind. Travel in these states totaled 51.32 billion miles, an increase of 5.7 percent. In the eight states of the South Gulf region, travel increased 5.5 percent to 46.82 billion miles.

Arkansas had the largest increase in overall travel, which rose 13.8 percent to total 2.75 billion miles in February. The state also had the largest increase in urban arterial travel, which jumped 16.2 percent to 1.21 billion miles.

Overall travel increased in every state except Wyoming, where the estimated total decreased from 628 million miles to 621 million miles. This was also the only state to have a decrease in urban arterial travel, which fell 1.9 percent to 125 million miles. The District of Columbia also had a year-over-year decrease in travel, dropping 4.6 percent from 235 million miles to 224 million miles.

Only three states had a decrease in rural arterial travel. This total dropped 1.5 percent to 3.72 billion miles in Texas, 1.4 percent to 280 million miles in Wyoming, and 0.1 percent to 357 million miles in North Dakota.

The FHWA travel estimates for February were based on estimates from 4,842 continuous traffic counting stations in the United States. These stations measure the volume of traffic and compare it to the same month in the previous year to estimate the number of vehicle miles traveled in the state. The report says 53 stations were located in Rhode Island, while 31 were located in Connecticut.