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Transportation System Extent (1999 data unless otherwise noted)

  • Highway
    • Public Roads
      • 46,567 miles of Interstate highway
      • 113,983 miles of other National Highway System roads
      • 3,771,462 miles of other roads

  • Air (2000 data)
    • Public-use airports
      • 5,354 airports
    • Airports serving large certificated carriers
      • 29 large hubsa (69 airports), 458 million enplaned passengers
      • 31 medium hubs (48 airports), 96 million enplaned passengers
      • 56 small hubs (73 airports), 39 million enplaned passengers
      • 577 nonhubs (794 airports), 17 million enplaned passengers

  • Rail
    • Miles of road operated
      • 120,986 miles by Class 1 freight railroadsb
      • 21,250 miles by regional freight railroads
      • 28,422 miles by local freight railroads
      • 22,741 miles by Amtrak (passenger), of which 750 miles are Amtrak owned

  • Urban transit (1998)
    • Directional route-miles serviced
      • Bus: 157,823
      • Trolley bus: 424
      • Commuter rail: 5,172
      • Heavy rail: 1,527
      • Light rail: 676
    • Stations
      • Commuter rail: 972
      • Heavy rail: 987
      • Light rail: 555

  • Water
      • 26,000 miles of navigable waterways
      • 276 locks
      • Ferry routes: 48
    • Commercial Facilities
      • Great Lakes:
        • 619 deep
        • 144 shallow
      • Inland:
        • 2,376 shallow
      • Coastal:
        • 4,050 deep
        • 2,118 shallow

  • Pipeline
    • Oil
      • Crude lines: 88,000 miles of pipe
      • Product lines: 91,000 miles of pipe
    • Gas
      • Transmission: 254,000 miles of pipe
      • Distribution: 981,000 miles of pipe

a As used here, a hub is defined as a geographic area based on the percentage of total enplaned passengers in that area. For example, a large hub is a geographical area serving 1 percent or more of all enplaned revenue passengers in U.S. certificated route carriers operating in U.S. areas. This definition should not be confused with airline usage of the term hub to describe "hub and spoke" route structures, or other definitions of hubs used by the Federal Aviation Administration focusing on traffic at individual airports.
b Includes 574 miles of road operated by U.S. Class 1 freight railroads in Canada.

SOURCES: U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2000 (Washington DC: in press), table 1-1; USDOT, BTS, National Transportation Statistics 2000 (Washington DC: in press), various tables; Association of American Railroads, Railroad Facts 2000, (Washington DC: 2000); USDOT, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics 1998 (Washington DC: 1999); National Ferry Database, as of 10/10/00; and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Navigation Data Center, The U.S. Waterway System - Transportation Facts, December 2000.