Book excerpt: Assesses the nation's transportation system and the state of transportation statistics. Brings together in one source information about how the transportation system is used, how well it works, its economic contributions and costs, and its unintended consequences for safety, energy import dependency, and the environment. Includes: transportation and the economy; transportation safety; transportation, energy, and the environment; the state of transportation statistics; long-distance travel in the U.S.; long-distance freight transportation; U.S./metric conversions and energy unit equivalents. Over 100 charts and tables.