North America > United States > Transportation

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Air transport, freight > million tons per km	37,357.64 million tons/km		[1st of 153]
View time series
Aircraft departures	8,534,500		[1st of 155]
DEFINITION: Aircraft departures are the number of domestic and international take-offs of air carriers registered in the country.
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
Cars	478 per 1,000 people		[7th of 18]
DEFINITION: Cars per 1,000 people (1999).
SOURCE: CIA World Factbook, 28 July 2005
Container port traffic	38,519,040 TEU		[2nd of 63]
DEFINITION: Port container traffic measures the flow of containers from land to sea transport modes., and vice versa, in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a standard-size container. Data refer to coastal shipping as well as international journeys. Transshipment traffic is counted as two lifts at the intermediate port (once to off-load and again as an outbound lift) and includes empty units.		View time series
SOURCE: World Bank, World Development Indicators 2002 (CD ROM)
Driving side of the road > Left or right	Right side
DEFINITION: About a quarter of the world drives on the left, and the countries that do are mostly old British colonies. The following is a list of countries of the world and the side of the road the inhabitants drive on. Most of the people driving on the left side of the road use right-hand-drive vehicles and vice-versa.
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
Highways > Paved	4,148,395 km		[1st of 113]
DEFINITION: total length of the paved parts of the highway system		View time series
SOURCE: World standards on users.pandora.be
Highways > Total	6,406,296 km		[1st of 118]
DEFINITION: total length of the highway system		View time series
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Highways > Unpaved	2,257,902 km		[1st of 113]
DEFINITION: total length of the unpaved parts of the highway system		View time series
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Merchant marine > Ships by type barge carrier 2, bulk 71, cargo 26, chemical tanker 13, combination bulk 2, combination ore/oil 1, container 79, freighter 15, heavy lift carrier 3, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 73, refrigerated cargo 3, roll on/roll off 46, short-sea passenger 2, specialized tanker 2, vehicle carrier 9
DEFINITION: Merchant marine may be defined as all ships engaged in the carriage of goods; or all commercial vessels (as opposed to all non-military ships), which excludes tugs, fishing vessels, offshore oil rigs, etc.; or a grouping of merchant ships by nationality o		View time series
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Merchant marine > Total > Dwt	12,616,742 Dwt		[17th of 157]
DEFINITION: Dwt=Deadweight tonnage, a measure of the capacity of a cargo ship		View time series
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Motor vehicles	765 motor vehicles per 100 p		[1st of 134]
DEFINITION: Motor vehicles per 1,000 people
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Pipelines > All types petroleum products 244,620 km; natural gas 548,665 km (2003)
DEFINITION: The lengths and types of pipelines for transporting products like natural gas, crude oil, or petroleum products"
SOURCE: United Nations World Statistics Pocketbook and Statistical Yearbook
Ports and harbors Anchorage, Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, Chicago, Duluth, Hampton Roads, Honolulu, Houston, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Port Canaveral, Portland (Oregon), Prudhoe Bay, San Francisco, Savannah, Seattle, Tampa, Toledo
DEFINITION: The major ports and harbors selected on the basis of overall importance to each country. This is determined by evaluating a number of factors (e.g., dollar value of goods handled, gross tonnage, facilities, and military significance).		View time series
SOURCE: CIA World Factbook, 22 August 2006
Rail usage statistics > Distance travelled by rail per inhabitant in km/year Kilometres/year	140		[31st of 38]
DEFINITION:
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Rail usage statistics > Passenger-km of rail transport, in billion/year > Billion passenger-kilometres	8.87		[23rd of 31]
SOURCE: Wikipedia: Rail usage statistics by country
Railways > A note represents the aggregate length of roadway of all line-haul railroads including an estimate for Class II and III railroads (1998)
DEFINITION: This entry states the total route length of the railway network and of its component parts by gauge: broad, dual, narrow, standard, and other.
SOURCE: Wikipedia: Rail usage statistics by country
Speed limit > Speed limits in specific countries > Within Towns	40-70 (25-45 mph)
DEFINITION:
SOURCE: CIA World Factbook, December 2003
Travel services > % of commercial service exports	28.82 %		[94th of 153]
DEFINITION: Travel services (% of commercial service exports) covers goods and services acquired from an economy by travelers in that economy for their own use during visits of less than one year for business or personal purposes. Travel services include the goods and services consumed by travelers, such as lodging and meals and transport (within the economy visited).		View time series
SOURCE: Wikipedia: Speed limit
Vehicle abundance	46.56 per square km		[18th of 141]
DEFINITION: Vehicles per populated land area Units: Vehicles/Populated Land Area (in km2) Units: Air pollution is generally greatest in densely populated areas. To take this into account, we used the Gridded Population of the World dataset available from CIESIN and calculated the total land area in each country inhabited with a population density of greater than 5 persons per sq. km. We then utilized this land area as the denominator for the vehicles data.
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
Waterways > A note navigable inland channels, exclusive of the Great Lakes
DEFINITION: The individual names of navigable rivers, canals, and other inland bodies of water.
SOURCE: World Bank, World Development Indicators 2001, Washington, DC: World Bank, 2001

Interesting facts on American Transportation

• American planes take-off a staggering 8.5 million times per year - almost half the number of take-offs worldwide.
• More than a third of the world's airports are in the United States of America.

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