With respect to the movement of goods:

• In 2012 the Nation’s freight system moved 53.9 million tons of goods worth $47.5 billion each day—about 62.6 tons of freight per capita per year.
• Trucks carried the largest share of freight shipments moving less than 500 miles from point of origin. Railroads and pipelines, combined, carried over one-half of the tonnage shipped from 750 miles to 1,000 miles. Air cargo and shipments by multiple modes (e.g., shipments transferred from rail to truck) accounted for over one-half of the value of freight moved more than 2,000 miles.
• After back-to-back declines in 2008 and 2009, the tonnage and value of freight moved in 2012 surpassed the previous highs reached in 2007, by just over 4 percent each.
• The value of U.S.-international trade increased from $2.6 trillion in 2000 to $3.8 trillion in 2012 (adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index), a 43.4 percent increase. This increase has created additional traffic between international gateways and domestic destinations.

FIGURE 4 - Freight Flows by Highway, Railroad, and Waterway: 2010

SOURCE: Highways: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Freight Analysis Framework, Version 3.4, 2012. Rail: Based on Surface Transportation Board, Annual Carload Waybill Sample and rail freight flow assignments done by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Inland Waterways: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Institute for Water Resources as of November 2013