WASHINGTON — As Americans head into Memorial Day weekend – the unofficial kick-off for summer travel – drivers are already well on their way to a record year in miles driven. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Americans drove a record-setting number of miles in the first quarter of 2015.

Americans drove a cumulative 720.1 billion miles in the first three months of the year — the highest for any year’s first quarter, and 35 billion miles more than the same period last year. March was particularly record-setting, with 261.7 billion miles driven, the most ever for that month. March represented the 13th consecutive month of increased growth in miles driven, at an increase of 3.9%.

The previous record for the first quarter of any year was 705.7 billion, set in 2006. Last year, Americans drove 3.02 trillion miles over the course of the year, up 1.7% over 2013 and the highest number driven since 2007, fueled by a sharp decline in oil prices. At the current increased rate of driving, 2015 is on pace to break the all-time record since the DOT began collecting driving data 79 years ago.