Box 1-A Overview of the U.S. Transportation System - Note: Box A-1 was revised on Aug. 19, 2013
| 2005 | 2011 | Percent change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| POPULATION (millions) | 296 | 312 | 5.4 |
| AIR (Civil) | |||
| Extent | |||
| Public use airports | 5,270 | 5,171 | -1.9 |
| Commercial service airports | 575 | 547 | -4.9 |
| Private use airports and landing fields | 14,584 | 14,339 | -1.7 |
| Aircraft and use (domestic) | |||
| Air carrier passenger/cargo aircrafts | 8,225 | 7,185 | -9.7 |
| Air carrier airplane miles flown, billions | 6.7 | 6.0 | -10.6 |
| Passenger enplanements, millions | 657 | 638 | -2.9 |
| RPM, billionsa | 569 | 564 | -1.0 |
| Freight ton-miles (revenue producing, scheduled and unscheduled), billions | 14.9 | 11.9 | -20.4 |
| General aviation aircraft | 224,352 | 222,520 | -0.4 |
| HIGHWAYS | |||
| Extent | |||
| Public Roads: | |||
| Miles of public roads, millions | 4.0 | 4.1 | 2.1 |
| Lane miles of public roads, millions | 8.4 | 8.6 | 2.3 |
| Bridges | 590,553 | 605,087 | 2.5 |
| Personal vehicles and use | |||
| Cars, SUVs, vans, pickups | |||
| Vehicles, millions | 231.9 | 230.2 (2010) | -0.6 |
| VMT, billionsb | U | 2,647.7 (2010) | |
| PMT, billionsc | U | 3,645.4 (2010) | |
| Motorcycles | |||
| Vehicles, millions | 6.2 | 8.2 (2010) | 31.9 |
| VMT, billions | U | 18.5 (2010) | |
| PMT, billions | U | 19.9 (2010) | |
| Commercial vehicles and buses | |||
| Combination trucks | |||
| Vehicles, millions | 2.1 | 2.6 (2010) | 22.3 |
| VMT, billions | U | 175.9 (2010) | |
| Single-unit trucks | |||
| Vehicles, millions | 6.4 | 8.2 (2010) | 28.5 |
| VMT, billions | U | 110.7 (2010) | |
| Buses | |||
| Vehicles, millions | 807,053 | 846,051 (2010) | 4.8 |
| VMT, billions | U | 13.8 (2010) | |
| PMT, billions | U | 292.3 (2010) | |
| PIPELINE | |||
| Extent | |||
| Miles of pipeline | |||
| Oil and hazardous liquid | 166,760 | 182,135 | 9.2 |
| Natural gas gathering and transmission | 324,222 | 324,606 | 0.1 |
| Natural gas distribution | 1,164,997 | 1,233,000 | 5.8 |
| RAIL | |||
| Extent | |||
| Miles of railroad operated by: | |||
| Class I freight railroads | 95,664 | 95,387 | -0.3 |
| Regional railroads | 15,388 | 10,355 | -32.7 |
| Local railroads | 29,197 | 32,776 | 12.3 |
| Amtrak (intercity passenger service), route miles | 22,007 | 21,225 | -3.6 |
| Equipment and use | |||
| Class I freight cars in service | 474,839 | 380,699 | -19.8 |
| Locomotives in service | 22,779 | 24,250 | 6.5 |
| Revenue ton-miles of freight, billion | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Amtrak | |||
| Stations | 518 | 517 | -0.2 |
| Passenger cars | 1,186 | 1,301 | 9.7 |
| Locomotives in service | 258 | 287 | 11.2 |
| Revenue passengers carried, millions | 25.1 | 31.3 | 25.0 |
| Revenue passenger-miles, billions | 5.4 | 6.7 | 24.0 |
| TRANSIT | |||
| Extent | |||
| Directional route milesd | |||
| Bus routes | 166,279 | 231,372 | 39.1 |
| Commuter rail | 7,118 | 7,576 | 6.4 |
| Heavy rail | 1,622 | 1,617 | -0.3 |
| Light rail | 1,188 | 1,741 | 46.5 |
| Transit rail stations | 2,899 | 3,155 | 8.8 |
| Vehicles and use | |||
| Transit buses | |||
| Vehicles | 62,284 | 61,606 | -1.1 |
| PMT, billions | 19.6 | 20.7 | 5.7 |
| Unlinked trips, billions | 5.3 | 5.2 | -1.9 |
| Heavy rail cars | |||
| Vehicles | 11,110 | 14,794 | 33.2 |
| PMT, billions | 14.4 | 17.3 | 20.1 |
| Unlinked trips, billions | 2.8 | 3.6 | 29.9 |
| Commuter rail cars and locomotives | |||
| Vehicles | 6,290 | 6,971 | 10.8 |
| PMT, billions | 9.5 | 11.3 | 19.5 |
| Unlinked trips, billions | 0.4 | 0.5 | 9.1 |
| Light rail cars | |||
| Vehicles | 1,645 | 2,284 | 38.8 |
| PMT, billions | 1.7 | 2.4 | 39.1 |
| Unlinked trips, billions | 0.4 | 0.5 | 27.1 |
| Demand responsive vehicles (e.g., paratransit) | |||
| Vehicles | 28,346 | 31,846 | 12.3 |
| PMT, billions | 0.7 | 0.9 | 19.0 |
| Unlinked trips, billions | 0.1 | 0.1 | 17.9 |
| Other: (e.g., ferryboat, vanpool) | |||
| Vehicles | 11,622 | 18,965 | 63.2 |
| PMT, billions | 1.2 | 1.7 | 44.6 |
| Unlinked trips, billions | 0.1 | 0.2 | 9.1 |
| WATER | |||
| Extent | |||
| Miles of navigable waterways | 26,000 | 25,320 (2010) | -2.6 |
| Waterway facilities (including cargo handling docks) | 9,399 | 8,197 | -12.8 |
| Lock chambers | 257 | 239 | -7.0 |
| Lock sites | 212 | 193 | -9.0 |
| Vessels | |||
| Non-self-propelled vessels | 33,152 | 31,412 (2010) | -5.2 |
| Self-propelled vessels | 8,976 | 9,100 (2010) | 1.4 |
| U.S.-flag oceangoing privately-owned fleet | 366 | 192 (2010) | -47.5 |
| Recreational boats, millions | 12.9 | 12.2 | -5.9 |
a Revenue Passenger Miles (RPM): Caculated by multiplying number of paying passengers by miles traveled.
b Vehicle-Miles Traveled (VMT): Highway—Miles of travel by all types of motor vehicles as determined by the states on the basis of actual traffic counts and established estimating procedures. Transit—The total number of miles traveled by transit vehicles. Commuter rail, heavy rail, and light rail report individual car-miles, rather than train-miles for vehicle-miles.
c Passenger-Miles Traveled (PMT): Total miles traveled by all passengers. For example, a car that carries 5 passengers a distance of 3 miles accrues 15 passenger-miles traveled.
d The mileage in each direction over which public transportation vehicles travel while in revenue service.
Key—PMT=Passenger-Miles Traveled; RPM=Revenue Passenger-Miles; SUV=Sport Utility Vehicle; U = unavailable, comparable data are unavailable due to a change in FHWA estimation methodology. VMT=Vehicle-Miles Traveled
NOTE: Data is taken from multiple sources, thus the number of significant digits may vary.
SOURCES: Population: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates, Vintage 2009 and 2012, available at www.census.gov/popest as of March 2013. Air: airports, aircraft, VMT—U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Federal Aviation Administration, as cited in USDOT, Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), National Transportation Statistics (NTS), table 1-3, 1-11, 1-35, available at www.bts.gov as of May 2012. Enplanements, PMT, ton-miles—USDOT RITA BTS, Air Carrier Traffic Statistics, available at bts.gov as of March 2013. Highways: USDOT Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Highway Statistics (multiple years) as cited in USDOT RITA BTS NTS, op cit., table 1-4 (roads), 1-6 (lane miles), 1-11 (vehicles), 1-35 (VMT), table 1-40 (PMT); bridges—USDOT FHWA Office of Bridge Technology, National Bridge Inventory Database, as cited in USDOT RITA BTS NTS, op cit., table 1-28. Pipeline: USDOT Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration, as cited in USDOT RITA BTS NTS, op cit., table 1-1 and 1-10. Rail: Association of American Railroads, Railroad Facts 2006 and 2012 (Washington, DC). Stations—Amtrak, as cited in USDOT RITA BTS NTS, op cit., table 1-7. Transit: USDOT Federal Transit Administration, National Transit Database, 2010 National Transit Profile Summary-All Agencies, available at www.ntdprogram.gov as of June 15, 2012. Water: Various sources as cited in USDOT RITA BTS NTS, op cit., table 1-1 (waterways) and table 1-11 (vessels) as of August 2013.