Have you ever wondered what happens with the federal and state gas taxes and airline ticket taxes you pay? Your money is being invested in building and maintaining the largest and safest transportation infrastructure network in the world.

A new study quantifies the many impacts transportation infrastructure has on the American economy and way of life. Research by Dr. William R. Buechner, American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) vice president of economics and research, analyzes data from government and industry sources.

According the Dr. Buechner’s report, the U.S. transportation construction industry has put your tax dollars to work building an impressive American infrastructure network that includes: 3.9 million miles of roads and highways, 5,400 airports, 200,000 miles of freight and passenger railroad track, 5,800 miles of urban mass transit line serving more than 2,300 stations, and 360 ports.

The ARTBA analysis also found a two-for-one public health return from investments in transportation. Every $1 billion invested by the public in government-financed road improvements since 1950 has, to this point, helped prevent 1,400 premature deaths and nearly 50,000 injuries. This has saved American society over $2 billion on health care, insurance, lost wages and productivity costs.

America’s transportation network makes possible more than 4 trillion miles of personal travel – an average of 15,000 miles per person – and the movement of more than $6 trillion dollars worth of freight annually.

The total value of our transportation infrastructure is $1.75 trillion. That’s 12 percent of the value of all tangible productive assets in the American economy. It’s also 10 times the current total value of all computers being used by American businesses!

Not surprisingly, given the magnitude of the job at hand, transportation construction generates $160 billion per year in U.S. economic activity and sustains 2.2 million American jobs. To put those numbers in perspective, road, airport, rail, transit and waterway construction has a greater positive impact on the economy than the petroleum, motion picture and tobacco industries combined.

As one of the nation’s 11,000 transportation contractors, I am very proud that the work we do helps drive the economy and connect American families. The core infrastructure our industry has designed, built and managed provides Americans with unprecedented freedom of mobility and the many choices that it provides.