A Modal Comparison of Domestic Freight Transportation Effects on the General Public: 2001-2009 (406391-2)

The Inland Waterway System is a key element in the nation's transportation system. This report updates the previous modal comparison study on cargo capacity, congestion, emissions, energy efficiency, safety impacts, and infrastructure impacts of inland waterway traffic. The amount of cargo currently transported on the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers, and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) is the equivalent of 51,000,000 truck trips annually that would have to travel on the nation's roadways in lieu of water transportation. The hypothetical diversion of current waterway freight traffic to the nation's highways would add 742 combination trucks (to the current 887) per day per lane on a typical rural interstate.