This report is in response to Section 6206 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (PL 110-246), which directs the Secretaries of Agriculture and Transportation jointly to conduct a study of rural transportation issues. The report reviews transportation and its effect on rural communities, with an emphasis on agricultural transportation. It looks in depth into each of the four major modes of transportation commonly used by agriculture in the United States: trucking, railroads, barges, and ocean vessels, examining each in the light of its ability to meet rural America’s transportation needs now and in the future. It identifies some broad issues that merit attention from policy makers.
Contents
- Preface (pdf)
- Full Table of Contents and Lists of Figures and Tables (pdf)
- Executive Summary (pdf)
- Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview (pdf)
- Chapter 2: The Importance of Freight Transportation to Agriculture (pdf)
- Chapter 3: How Freight Transportation Supports Rural America (pdf)
- Chapter 4: Biofuels Transportation (pdf)
- Chapter 5: Coal Transportation (pdf)
- Chapter 6: Rail Competition and its Importance to Agriculture (pdf)
- Chapter 7: Rail Rates (pdf)
- Chapter 8: Rail Service Performance (pdf)
- Chapter 9: Rail Capacity (pdf)
- Chapter 10: Rail Investment (pdf)
- Chapter 11: Rail Rate Relief Processes for Shippers (pdf)
- Chapter 12: Barge Transportation (pdf)
- Chapter 13: Truck Transportation (pdf)
- Chapter 14: Ocean Transportation (pdf)
- Chapter 15: Multimodal Issues (pdf)
- Abbreviations (pdf)
- Glossary (pdf)
- Index (pdf)
- Notes (pdf)
A full version of Study of Rural Transportation Issues is available below. The document may take a significant time to download as it is 29MB in size. This version is also a PDF.
For assistance with any accessibility issues related to this document, please e-mail Jessica.Ladd@usda.gov.