Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS)
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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 2004 2005 2006
Highwaya 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 3,981,512 3,995,635 4,016,741
Class I railb,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 97,662 95,830 94,942
Amtrakc 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 22,256 22,007 21,708
Transitd                                              
Commuter railc 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 6,831 6,809 6,875 7,118 6,972
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 1,596 1,622 1,623
Light rail N N N N N 384 483 551 558 537 562 568 638 659 676 802 834 897 960 996 1,187 1,188 1,280
Navigable channelse 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 26,000 26,000 26,000
Oil pipelinef,g 190,944 210,867 218,671 225,889 218,393 213,605 208,752 203,828 196,545 193,980 190,350 181,912 177,535 179,873 178,648 177,463 176,996 158,248 160,990 159,889 161,670 159,512 169,346
Gas pipelineh 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 1,462,300 1,437,500 1,534,300

KEY: N = data do not exist; U = data are not available.

a All 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.

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

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

d Transit 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.

e These 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.

f The large drop in mileage between 2000 and 2001 is due to a change in the source of the data.

g Includes trunk and gathering lines for crude-oil pipeline.

h Excludes 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.

1996-2006: Ibid., Highway Statistics, table HM-20, (Washington, DC: Annual issues), available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohpi/hss/index.htm as of Feb. 18, 2008.

Class I rail:

1960-2006: Association of American Railroads, Railroad Facts 2006 (Washington, DC: 2006), 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).

2002-06: Association of American Railroads, Railroad Facts 2007 (Washington, DC: 2007), p. 77, and similar tables in earlier editions.

Transit:

1985-2006: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, National Transit Database 2005 (Washington, DC: 2006), table 23 and similar tables in earlier editions, available at http://www.ntdprogram.gov/ntdprogram as of Nov. 9, 2007.

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.

2000-04: Ibid., personal communication, Apr. 21, 2006.

2005-06: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, personal communication, Dec. 12, 2006.

Oil pipeline:

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

2001-06: U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety, Pipeline Statistics, available at http://ops.dot.gov/stats.htm as of March 31, 2008.

Gas pipeline:

1960-2006: American Gas Association, Gas Facts, 2006 (Washington, DC: 2008), table 5-1 and similar tables in earlier editions.



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