National Transportation Safety BoardIn fall 2025, TRB hosted a webinar that explored how transportation benefits and costs influence the development of a strong, competitive economy. Moderated by Joel Jundt, Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Transportation, the webinar featured three presenters—Rolf Schmitt, Bureau of Transportation Statistics; Paul Bingham, S&P Global Market Intelligence; and Carrie Kissel, National Association of Development Organizations—who discussed how transportation supports economic growth and supply chain resilience. They also examined strategies to align infrastructure investment with economic development goals and highlighted performance measures that demonstrate the economic impact of transportation systems.
Jundt opened the webinar by observing that the nation’s transportation infrastructure is “the backbone of our lives and of our economy” and how the significant amount of money invested in U.S. infrastructure has resulted in huge economic returns. Schmitt, the first presenter, discussed the different roles that transportation plays in the economy, particularly as relates to the industries that:
- Build transportation equipment and infrastructure,
- Produce fuel that powers transportation, and
- Provide transportation services.
Transportation also contributes to total economic output, accounting for almost 10 percent of final demand for goods and services. Most importantly, Schmitt said, transportation is an enabler of economic activity, connecting producers, suppliers, and markets by moving $51 billion worth of freight every day while also conveying workers to their places of employment. At the same time, however, transportation is also a major cost for households and businesses. Schmitt noted how transportation differs between long distance and local travel and between bulk freight transportation and high-value, high-velocity freight.
Bingham focused on businesses’ supply chain logistics. He stated that transportation was 64 percent of total U.S. business logistics costs in 2024. Motor carriers accounted for about 69 percent of transportation logistics costs, followed by rail (7 percent), pipeline (6 percent), air (4 percent), and water (3 percent). Parcel transportation (which is the transportation of small packages or shipments) accounts for 11 percent of transportation logistics costs, which Bingham explained is more of an integrated form of transportation that includes multiple modes.
Logistics costs can be considered a performance measure of the economy, as lower costs can mean greater efficiency. Bingham also touched on factors that characterize transportation disruptions, including their duration, existing inventories, transportation system substitutes (i.e., alternative routes or methods to move goods), and amounts of government assistance and insurance payouts. He concluded by citing performance measures of transportation’s role in the economy, which include measurements of truck freight bottlenecks, travel times, and transportation energy use.
Kissel focused on rural transportation and its effect on the overall health of the U.S. economy. Rural counties often have a limited tax base that can inhibit their ability to support the maintenance and preservation of transportation infrastructure for local economic activities. Over the past 20 years, she said, the top transportation priorities for rural regional planning and development organizations have been preservation and maintenance of existing facilities and services, economic development and resilience, and safety. Practitioners have said that a focus on economic resilience is especially important to avoid disruption from such economic shocks as a natural disaster or closure of a major employer. When making decisions about transportation infrastructure and development, Kissel encouraged broad and meaningful engagement with a variety of public and private stakeholders to develop creative solutions during the transportation planning process.
The webinar video and PowerPoint slides are available at TRB Webinar: Building and Sustaining a Competitive Economy.
