Surface Transportation Fact Sheet

The Transportation Investment Gap

  • Annually, there is an average gap of over $50 billion in capital, operations and maintenance funding to maintain the nation’s highways and transit systems from 2007 to 2017. Additionally, there is an average annual gap of more than $100 billion to improve these systems. (Source: Transportation Research Board)
  • Roughly one-third of the nation’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition. (Source: The Road Information Program (TRIP))
  • U.S. transit systems earned a D+ rating from the American Society of Civil Engineers (Source: ASCE). Transit funding is declining while public transportation ridership is at its highest level in 50 years, with 10.3 billion trips in 2007. Ridership continues to grow at record levels with a 5.2 percent increase in the second quarter of 2008. (Source: American Public Transportation Association (APTA))
  • The federal share of government spending on infrastructure has decreased from 11.2 percent in 1960 to 3.5 percent today. The share of gross domestic product (GDP) spent on infrastructure has dropped from 1.7 percent two decades to less than 0.6 percent today. (Source: Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell, stateline.org)

Economic Costs

  • A decaying surface transportation system costs the U.S. economy $78 billion annually in lost time and fuel. (Source: Texas Transportation Institute (TTI))
  • The economic cost of vehicle crashes annually is over $230 billion dollars. (Source: AAA)
  • If the economy grows at a conservative rate of 3 percent over the next 20 years, domestic freight tonnage will double. Unless capacity is increased, congestion could impose a huge cost on the nation’s economy and productivity. (Source: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA))

Economic Benefits

  • According to the Department of Transportation, each $1 billion in federal highway investment accompanied by the state match supports 34,779 jobs. (Source: U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT))
  • Highway investment has been shown to stimulate the economy more than any other fiscal policy. Each dollar invested in highway construction generates $1.80 of Gross Domestic Product in the short term (Source: Standard & Poor’s DRI).
  • Every dollar taxpayers invest in public transportation generates about $6 in economic returns. (Source: Cambridge Systematics)

Safety

  • Almost 42,000 people are killed each year on the nation’s highways. (Source: DOT)
  • Approximately 15,000 traffic deaths annually occur in crashes where substandard road conditions, obsolete designs, or roadside hazards are a factor. (Source: DOT )
  • Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for people between the ages of 6 and 33. (Source: DOT)

Congestion

  • Congestion costs Americans an estimated $200 billion per year. (Source: DOT)
  • By 2050, congestion costs could represent 14 percent of national GDP, up from 1.5 percent of GDP in 2003. (Source: National League of Cities)
  • From 1982 to 2003, the number of hours commuters spent in traffic increased from 25 hours to 85 hours annually. (Source: FHWA)
  • In the 10 most congested areas in the U.S., each rush hour commuter spends the equivalent of almost 8 work days a year stuck in traffic.(Source: TTI)
  • Americans lose a total of 4 billion hours annually in traffic jams. (Source: DOT)
  • Public transportation services in America’s most congested cities saved travelers 1.1 billion hours in travel time. Without public transportation, travel delays would have increased 27 percent. (Source: TTI)
  • Only 54 percent of American households have access to public transportation of any kind as they plan their daily travel. (Source: 2005 Bureau of the Census survey)

Energy & Environment

  • Americans in urban areas wasted 2.9 billion gallons of fuel, enough to fill 58 supertankers in 2005. (Source: TTI)
  • Public transportation use reduces U.S. gasoline consumption by about $4.2 billion gallons each year. (Source: APTA)
  • In 2005, public transportation reduced CO2 emissions by 6.9 million metric tons. An individual switching to public transit can reduce their daily carbon emissions by 20 pounds, which is more than 4,800 pounds in a year. (Source: APTA)

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