US motorists drove 8.3 percent more miles in August compared with the same month a year ago as driving continues to recover from pandemic lows and more Americans returned to offices and took leisure trips.

The Federal Highway Administration said on Tuesday that motorists drove 273.8 billion miles in August, up 21 billion miles over August 2020 but lower than the 286.8 billion miles in August 2019.

Meanwhile, demand for cars has grown, with sales hindered by a shortage of the semiconductor chips that manufacturers need to produce new vehicles.