Projections show 61% freight growth by 2040

Projections show 61% freight growth by 2040    U.S. freight tonnage will annually increase 1.6 percent to 27.1 billion tons by 2040 compared to 18.6 billion tons at its high point in 2007, the Federal Highway Administration estimated Thursday.
   Over the next 30 years freight volume will grow a combined 61 percent, it said in its latest freight analysis.
   Goods moved by all modes prior to the recession were worth about $16.5 trillion. On a daily basis, the transportation system moved 51 million tons of goods valued at more than $45 billion per day.
   Trucks moved 69 percent of the nation's goods by weight and 65 percent by value. Intermodal goods movement accounted for 18 percent of the value of freight transportation in 2007 and is forecast to grow to nearly 27 percent by 2040.
   'The data confirms how critical our highways are to moving freight and to our nation’s economy,” FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez said. “Overall increasing and improved intermodal freight movement will lead to less energy consumption and more environmentally sustainable options.”