a very strong trend in the direction of increasing frequency of heavier trucks and decreasing frequency of medium weight trucks.
Trailers being transported on flatcars.
Since 1955, an especially heavy public investment has been made in highways, much of it concentrated on high-grade intercity highways designed to carry large volumes of heavy truck traffic. Capital outlay for this purpose by Federal, State, and local governments totaled nearly $136 billion between 1955 and 1971.
By 1970, the mileage of divided highways of four or more lanes with partial or full control of access had increased eightfold since 1956, the first year when highways were so classified. About 80 percent of this increase was on intercity routes. Such controlled-access highways on the Federal-Aid Primary System increased from somewhat over 4,000 to nearly 41,000 miles, from 2 to nearly 16 percent of the total system mileage.
A 40-ton capacity straddle-lift crane transfers containers from piggyback flatcars to a highway carrier for shipment to destination.
As these high-grade highways have been provided, intercity motor freight transportation has grown rapidly. Truck ton-miles were 89 percent higher in 1971 than in 1955. During the same period, population grew 25 percent. The gross national product (GNP) in constant dollars was up 69 percent and industrial production, 81 percent. The ton-miles accounted for by carriers regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission more than doubled from 1955 to 1970, compared with a 73 percent increase for carriers not under regulation. The nonregulated carriers accounted for an increasing share of all intercity freight ton-miles, 9 percent in 1955 compared with 11 percent in 1970.
Urban goods movement is a major element in the economy of the United States and especially in the urban economies. Practically all freight moving in rural areas either originates or terminates within urban areas. Moreover, urban areas are the points of meeting between carriers of different sizes, between regulated and nonregulated carriers, and between different modes of transportation.
The movement of goods in urban areas is performed primarily by trucks, and truck travel in these areas increased during the 1960’s even more than passenger car travel: 80 compared with 74 percent. A 1965 study of the tri-State area comprising New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut indicated that trucks moved over 75 percent of the tonnage and accounted for 97 percent of the value of freight moved.
Trucking and Other Modes
In the intercity freight market, significant impediments to free market forces are at work determining the relative shares taken by each transportation mode. Airlines and railroads in particular are subject to more pervasive and stringent economic regulations than trucking. In 1970, only about 41 percent of truck and 7 percent of water ton-miles were regulated.
Nationwide data for 1970 indicate that truck freight expenditures were almost evenly divided between local haul (49.4 percent) and intercity haul (50.6 percent). The intercity hauls usually terminate in urban areas and become part of the urban traffic.
Trucks haul primarily commodities of medium value, but compete strongly with railroads and water carriers for the high value ($1,000 per ton) less-than-truck-load business. Trucks dominate when hauls are less than 400 miles. Yet for individual commodities, the median lengths of haul by rail and truck are rather close.
In 1970, the Nation’s estimated total transportation expenditure amounted to over $181 billion, 97 percent of which was spent on domestic transportation. Highway-oriented expenditures accounted for 82 percent.
The dominance of highway-oriented modes becomes even more evident in view of the fact that 1970 expenditures on intercity freight moved by truck ($20 billion) were greater than those for the rail, air, water, and pipeline modes combined. Highway passenger travel accounted for 42 percent of total national transportation expenditures.
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