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Table 5. National summary of freight ton-miles (billions) (52, 53).
2002 2008 2035
Mode Import & Import & Import &
Total Domestic Total Domestic Total Domestic
Export Export Export
Total 4,432 4,161 271 4,749 4,419 330 8,220 7,648 572
Truck 1,246 1,224 22 1,392 1,370 22 2,463 2,400 63
Rail 1,605 1,511 94 1,735 1,600 135 3,012 2,813 199
Water 612 519 93 602 502 100 909 763 146
Air, air &
14 4 10 17 5 12 77 13 64
truck
Intermodal 23 4 20 27 3 24 47 6 41
Pipeline &
932 900 32 977 939 38 1,712 1,653 59
unknown
3.4 Highways has been noted that the growth in overall traffic and growth
in freight in particular have outpaced the expansion of the
Infrastructure: The most recent version of the National transportation system. Between 1980 and 2003, lane-miles
Highway Planning Network (NHPN) represents more than of highways increased 5 percent while vehicle miles of travel
525,000 miles of public roadways including the IHS, National increased 89 percent (57). The ability of the freight transporta-
Highway System (NHS), National Network (NN), and other tion system to support increasing capacity demand remains
state highways. The NHS represents about 31 percent of the a challenge.
entire public highway network and the 47,344 miles of Inter- Capacity: To examine the ability of the highway network
state highways represent about 28 percent of the NHS (42). It to meet current and future freight demand, capacity analysis
Figure 3. Average truck speeds on selected Interstate highways, 2009 (56).
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a b
Figure 4. Truck flow on FAF 2 highway network (a) base year 2002 and (b) 2035 (58).
was conducted using the FAF2 origin-destination (O-D) Figure 6 shows the percentage of miles exceeding the capac-
data. Figure 4 shows the truck traffic volumes on the freight ity in the years 2002 and 2035. The following observations can
transportation network for the 2002 base year and the fore- be made:
cast for 2035, respectively. The highway capacity impacts of
the 2002 and 2035 freight truck traffic volumes are also shown · About 3 percent of NHS miles exceeded the capacity in
in Figure 5. This figure illustrates highway congestion for 2002, and this is estimated to increase to about 26 percent
2002 and 2035. The impacts on highway capacity are expressed in 2035.
as the miles of highway that fall into one of the three categories · In 2002, 320 miles of rural Interstate exceeded the capacity,
based on the volume/capacity (v/c) ratios: and the miles with heavy congestion are expected to increase
to 9,442 miles in 2035, which represents 30 percent of the
1. Below capacity--v/c less than 0.75 (green) total rural Interstate miles.
2. Approaching capacity--v/c ratio 0.75 to 1.0 (amber) · About 2,904 miles of urban Interstate were heavily con-
3. Exceeding capacity--v/c ratio greater than 1.0 (red) (58). gested in 2002, accounting for 18 percent of the total NHS
a b
Figure 5. NHS highway network congestion (a) base year 2002 and (b) 2035 (58).
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80 · In 2002, 5,882 miles or 36 percent of urban NHS Inter-
2002 2035 state and 3,448 miles or 11 percent of rural NHS Inter-
Percentage of Highway
60 state carry more than 10,000 trucks per day. The miles with
heavy truck traffic will increase more than twofold in 2035
to 11,855 miles or 72 percent of urban NHS Interstate and
40
15,353 miles or 51 percent of rural NHS Interstate.
· In 2002, only 6 percent of the 162,164 NHS miles experience
20
truck traffic in excess of 10,000 trucks per day. This percent-
age is estimated to rise to 20 percent in 2035.
0
Urban Interstate Rural Interstate Urban Non- Rural Non- Industry Segments: The trucking industry is also the most
Interstate Interstate
complex and diverse mode ranging from owner-operators with
Figure 6. Percentage of NHS highway miles exceeding one truck to very large fleets with more than 15,000 tractors.
capacity (58). In the United States, nearly 97 percent of trucking compa-
nies operate less than 20 trucks, although medium and large
carriers haul the majority of freight and employ the majority
urban Interstate miles. This percentage increases consider- of drivers (57). Motor carriers may be either private carriers,
ably to 70 percent in 2035, corresponding to 11,534 miles dedicated to hauling intracompany freight only, or for-hire
of urban Interstate that will exceed the capacity. carriers that haul goods for third parties. In 2005, the follow-
ing types of motor carriers were operating in the United States:
To illustrate the distribution of truck traffic on the high-
way network for the years 2002 and 2035, truck volume · 290,629 for-hire carriers
groups used are: · 504,166 private carriers
· 234,892 "other" interstate carriers.
1. Light Truck Traffic--0 to 5,000 Annual Average Daily Truck
Traffic (AADTT) Major segments within the industry include truckload (TL),
2. Moderate Truck Traffic--5,000 to 10,000 AADTT less-than-truckload (LTL), and specialized. Specialized car-
3. Heavy Truck Traffic--greater than 10,000 AADTT. riers may include overweight/oversize carriers, bulk liquid
carriers, and flatbed carriers. Mobility constraints affect seg-
Figure 7 shows the percentages of highway miles carrying ments of the industry in different capacities. For example, TL
different levels of truck traffic. It is noted that: carriers operating in many jurisdictions may be most affected
by the lack of a centralized clearinghouse of road system status.
· Over 82 percent and 66 percent of the NHS miles in the years Conversely, the mobility of LTL carriers may be most impacted
2002 and 2035, respectively, carry less than 5,000 AADTT. by inadequate access to retail establishments or traffic sig-
nal timing geared toward automobiles. Lastly, specialized
hazardous materials (hazmat) carrier operations may be most
100 impacted by hazmat route restrictions or hazmat-related
0 - 5,000
5,000 - 10,000 delays at intermodal facilities. The distribution of carriers in
Percent Miles of highway
80 >10,000 the United States includes:
60 · TL (52 percent)
· LTL (24 percent)
40 · Specialized, bulk/tank (5 percent)
· Other specialized (19 percent) (49).
20
Truck Vehicle Types: There are two main types of trucks:
0 single-unit or straight trucks and combination trucks. In
2002 2035 2006, there were 26.9 million straight and combination trucks
Figure 7. Percentage of NHS highway miles and truck registered for business purposes in the United States (57). Com-
volume (58). mercial motor vehicles are further grouped by gross vehicle
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weight (GVW) into eight truck classes. Classes 1 through 3 are truck is $88,618; by truck and rail, $4,892; by truck alone,
vehicles up to 14,000 GVW, Classes 46 weigh up to 26,000 $775; by water, $401, and by rail alone, $198 (1). This intercon-
GVW, and Classes 78 are vehicles that weigh more than nectivity of each mode can belie the importance of the mode,
26,000 GVW. From 20002006, vehicle sales for these truck if it is only viewed by its share of weight or value. Although
classes increased as follows: water shipments may represent only 5.2 percent of all ship-
ments by value, they are indispensible in moving heavy, raw
· Classes 13: 14 percent to 8.7 million vehicles commodities such as chemicals, grain, and petroleum. Air
· Classes 46: 33 percent to 170,000 vehicles freight is a small fraction of all shipments by tonnage but is
· Classes 78: 12 percent to 375,000 vehicles (49). essential for critically high-value freight such as electronics,
or even fresh seafood. The relatively high value of the truck-
Human Resources: Trucking is a major employer across rail intermodal shipments at nearly $5,000 per ton illustrates
all segments of the economy. The industry provided one in the value-added nature of intermodal freight transportation's
thirteen private-sector jobs for 8.7 million people in 2005, ability to ship high-value goods long distances in a rapid, reli-
a 1.2 percent increase over 2004 (52). Of these employees, able manner. Therefore, each mode has evolved to serve an
3.5 million people are professional truck drivers. Truck driver irreplaceable niche in the interconnected transcontinental
job functions vary significantly across the industry. For exam- freight network.
ple, long-haul truckload drivers may be away from home for The trucking industry is the largest sector of freight move-
weeks at a time and travel in predominantly rural areas. Con- ment, carrying approximately 69 percent of all freight ton-
versely, LTL pickup and delivery drivers may travel primarily nage, totaling 10.7 billion tons of freight and 83.8 percent of
in urban areas within 100 miles of their home terminal. Despite freight transportation revenue (57). According to a recent
significant differences in operating characteristics, the indus- report (1), the nation's freight ton-miles by all freight modes
try as a whole faces systemic operating challenges. increased steadily at an average rate of 1.2 percent per year
The industry continues to face both a shortage of drivers between 1980 and 2004. Between 2002 and 2008, the volume of
and difficulty retaining drivers. The need for truck drivers is domestic freight movements by truck increased by 15 percent.
expected to increase by 19 percent between 2002 and 2012, In 2008, trucks carried 75 percent or $10.7 trillion of total
outpacing the 14.8 percent expected increase in overall job value of domestic freight (and 64 percent of all freight value)
growth (59). Projections suggest the driver shortage could representing an increase of 27 percent above the 2002 values.
rise to 111,000 by 2014 as 320,000 new drivers will be needed Between 1980 and 2002, the number of freight trucks increased
to keep pace with growth in freight volumes while another by 37 percent (i.e., from 5.8 million in 1980 to 6.2 million in
219,000 drivers will be needed to replace drivers that either 1990 to 7.9 million in 2002). Average annual distance traveled
retire or leave the industry. This translates to a need for more by commercial trucks also increased from 19,000 miles per
than 54,000 new drivers per year over the next decade. truck in 1980 to 27,000 miles per truck in 2002.
Among the highlights are the following significant distri- The growth in U.S. freight volume places pressure on the
butions of freight upon the system: transportation system arising from congestion, delays, capac-
ity management, and operational bottlenecks, and it impacts
· NHS is only 4 percent of all mileage but it transports an esti- individual modes as well as multimodal freight movements.
mated 75 percent of all truck freight, inclusive of IHS (49). The consequence of increases in VMT is increased delay result-
· The IHS composes 1 percent of all highway mileage but ing from congestion, which affects the productivity of trucking.
transports an estimated 43 percent of all truck freight (49). The impacts of congestion on trucking can also be measured
· FHWA estimates that the percentage of urban Interstate sec- in terms of value-of-time and vehicle operating cost savings
tions carrying more than 10,000 trucks per day will increase resulting from more efficient and reliable operating speeds on
from 27 percent in 1998 to 69 percent in 2020. the highway system.
· Approximately 53 percent of urban Interstate mileage will According to the 2008 updates to the FAF commodity O-D
likely be congested in 2020 in comparison to about 20 per- database, Table 6 shows the top five commodities for domes-
cent today. tic movements by trucks in terms of tonnage and value.
Vehicle Miles Traveled: According to FHWA, in 2005 com-
Performance: Although trucking is the dominant mode, mercial trucks traveled an average of 13.7 percent of total rural
the nation's logistics rely on the interconnected and inter- VMT and 7.1 percent of total urban VMT (11). According
dependent nature of the various modes. Trucking is domi- to an analysis by Martin Labbe Associates for the American
nant on higher value, shorter distance trips. Trucking is also Trucking Associations (ATA), Class 8 trucks traveled a total
the dominant mode in terms of miles traveled, value of freight, of 130.5 billion miles in 2005, an average of 45,000 miles per
and volume of freight. The value of a ton shipped by air and truck (57).
