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Transportation infrastructure and other transportation assets constitute one of the most important economic resources of the United States. Transportation infrastructure, known also as transportation structures in national data, includes highways and streets, bridges, railroads, and other transportation structures.
Federal, state, and local governments play a major role in providing transportation services and infrastructure in the United States. Governments spend funds on critical activities like building highways, operating the nation’s air traffic control system, and maintaining transit facilities. These funds come from several government revenue sources, including user fees, taxes, bonds, and grants.
Household spending on transportation is a large expense for American households. It influences many of their personal decisions, including where they live and work. This chapter explores three national measures of household spending on transportation:
1. Personal Consumption Expenditures, which measure total national household spending on transportation;
2. The Consumer Expenditure Survey, which measures individual household spending on transportation; and
The transportation and warehousing sector and related industries employ over 13.0 million people in a variety of roles, from driving buses to manufacturing cars to building and maintaining ports and railroads (box 4-1). This chapter explores transportation employment by industry, occupation, mode, and state, and highlights the significant role that transportation employment plays in the Nation’s job profile.
The cost of transportation stems from the resources it requires—labor, equipment, fuel, and infrastructure. Many resources are purchased by firms that provide transportation services, such as labor purchased by a railroad or fuel bought by a trucking company. Other resources are purchased directly by the users of transportation, such as fuel purchased by households for automobile travel.
Transportation makes economic activity possible by enabling the production of goods and services—for instance, in carrying the raw materials needed to manufacture goods. Transportation also serves as a major economic activity itself. Households, businesses, and the government directly consume transportation goods (e.g., vehicles and motor fuel) and services (e.g., public transit and commercial airline transportation) to meet their travel needs.