BTS | Table 1-1: System Mileage Within the United States

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BTS Home > Publications > National Transportation Statistics > 2005

Table 1-1: System Mileage Within the United States

(Statute miles)

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	1960	1965	1970	1975	1980	1985	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Highway^a	3,545,693	3,689,666	3,730,082	3,838,146	3,859,837	3,863,912	3,866,926	3,883,920	3,901,081	3,905,211	3,906,595	3,912,226	3,919,652	3,945,872	3,906,290	3,917,243	3,936,222	3,948,335	3,966,485	3,974,107
Class I rail^b,c	207,334	199,798	196,479	191,520	164,822	145,764	119,758	116,626	113,056	110,425	109,332	108,264	105,779	102,128	100,570	99,430	99,250	97,817	100,125	99,126
Amtrak^c	N	N	N	N	24,000	24,000	24,000	25,000	25,000	25,000	25,000	24,000	25,000	25,000	22,000	23,000	23,000	23,000	23,000	22,675
Transit^d
Commuter rail^c	N	N	N	N	N	3,574	4,132	4,038	4,013	4,090	4,090	4,160	3,682	4,417	5,172	5,191	5,209	5,209	(R) 6,831	6,809
Heavy rail	N	N	N	N	N	1,293	1,351	1,369	1,403	1,452	1,455	1,458	1,478	1,527	1,527	1,540	1,558	1,572	1,572	1,597
Light rail	N	N	N	N	N	384	483	551	558	537	562	568	638	659	676	802	834	897	(R) 960	996
Navigable channels^e	25,000	25,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000	26,000
Oil pipeline^f	190,944	210,867	218,671	225,889	218,393	213,605	208,752	203,828	196,545	193,980	190,350	181,912	177,535	179,873	178,648	177,463	176,996	158,489	161,189	160,868
Gas pipeline^g	630,950	767,520	913,267	979,263	1,051,774	1,118,875	1,189,200	1,208,200	1,216,100	1,277,200	1,288,400	1,277,600	1,323,600	1,331,800	1,351,200	1,340,300	1,369,300	1,373,500	1,411,400	1,424,200

KEY: N = data do not exist

^aAll public road and street mileage in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. For years prior to 1980, some miles of nonpublic roadways are included. No consistent data on private road mileage are available. Beginning in 1998, approximately 43,000 miles of Bureau of Land Management Roads are excluded.

^bData represent miles of road owned (aggregate length of road, excluding yard tracks, sidings, and parallel lines).

^cPortions of Class I freight railroads, Amtrak, and commuter rail networks share common trackage. Amtrak data represent miles of road operated.

^dTransit system length is measured in directional route-miles. Directional route-miles is the distance in each direction over which public transportation vehicles travel while in revenue service. Directional route-miles are computed with regard to direction of service, but without regard to the number of traffic lanes or rail tracks existing in the right-of-way. Beginning in 2002, directional route-mileage data for the commuter and light rail modes include purchased transportation. The 2002 data has been revised to include purchased transportation data.

^eThese are estimated sums of all domestic waterways which include rivers, bays, channels, and the inner route of the Southeast Alaskan Islands, but does not include the Great Lakes or deep ocean traffic. The Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center monitored 12,612 miles as commercially significant inland shallow-draft waterways in 2001.

^fIncludes trunk and gathering lines for crude-oil pipeline.

^gExcludes service pipelines. Data not adjusted to common diameter equivalent. Mileage as of the end of each year. Includes gathering, transmission, and distribution mains. Prior to 1990 data also include field lines. See Table 1-10 for a more detailed breakout of oil and gas pipeline mileage. Length data reported in Gas Facts prior to 1990 was taken from the American Gas Association's member survey, the Uniform Statistical Report, supplemented with estimates for companies that did not participate. Gas Facts length data is now based on information reported to the U.S. Department of Transportation on Form 7100.

SOURCES

Highway:

1960-95: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics Summary to 1995, FHWA-PL-97-009 (Washington, DC: Annual issues), table HM-212.

1996-2003: Ibid., Highway Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual issues) , Internet site http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohpi/hss/index.htm as of May 3, 2005, table HM-20.

Class I rail:

1960-2003: Association of American Railroads, Railroad Facts 2004 (Washington, DC: 2004), p. 45, and similar tables in earlier editions.

Amtrak:

1980: Amtrak, Corporate Planning and Development, personal communication (Washington, DC).

1985-2001: Amtrak, Corporate Planning and Development, Amtrak Annual Report, Statistical Appendix (Washington, DC: Annual issues).

2002-03: Association of American Railroads, Railroad Facts 2004 (Washington, DC: 2004), p. 77, and similar tables in earlier editions.

Transit:

1985-2003: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, National Transit Database (Washington, DC: Annual issues), Internet site http://www.ntdprogram.com/ as of May 3, 2005, table 23 and similar tables in earlier editions.

Navigable channels:

1960-96: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Ohio River Division, Huntington District, Ohio River Navigation System Report, 1996, Commerce on the Ohio River and its Tributaries (Fort Belvoir, VA: 1996), p. 2.

1997-99: Ibid., Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center Databases, personal communication, Aug. 3, 2001.

2000-03: Ibid., personal communication, Aug. 12, 2003 and July 23, 2004.

Oil pipeline:

1960-2000: Eno Transportation Foundation, Inc., Transportation in America, 2002 (Washington, DC: 2002), p. 58.

2001-03: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety, Pipeline Statistics, Internet site http://ops.dot.gov/stats.htm as of Dec. 8, 2004.

Gas pipeline:

1960-2003: American Gas Association, Gas Facts (Arlington, VA: Annual issues), Table 5-1 and similar tables in earlier editions.