Transportation

Tennessee is often referred to as the “Center of the South” due to our centralized location and dynamic, growing transportation infrastructure. Tennessee shares a border with eight states making our location convenient and economical to move freight and products across the United States and abroad.

Airways

Tennessee has developed air transportation through two strategic avenues: Commercial Service (CS) Airports and General Aviation (GA) Airports. The seven CS airports have invested heavily in cargo handling infrastructure to meet the demands of businesses. For instance, Memphis international airport has been the world’s largest cargo airport for over 12 years and continues to enjoy this distinction. GA airports, of which there are 76, afford just-in-time shipping opportunities that have been utilized by Saturn/GM and other large scale manufacturing operations.

The Memphis international airport will also be the home of the new Tennessee Air National Guard facilities designed to meet the 9/11 anti-terrorism standards and will be completed in 2008.

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Highways

Tennessee's road system stretches over 87,000 miles, enough to circle the world more than three times. Of that figure, about 14,000 miles are on the state maintained highway system, which is totally maintained by the state. Those 14,000 miles represent 16 percent of the total highway miles within our state; however they carry approximately 75 percent of the traffic. Included in the state highway system are 1,073 miles of interstate highways. Although the interstate system encompassing over 7 major arteries makes up just over one percent of the total highway mileage, it carries approximately a quarter of all the traffic in Tennessee. Our location literally puts us within one day of 75% of the United States and within 600 miles of 48% of the nation's population. In addition, Tennessee dedicates billions of dollars annually to new highway construction across the state.

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Railways

Tennessee has one of the South’s most extensive rail systems with over 3350 miles of main and short line railroads. Tennessee’s three main rail systems are CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Illinois Central/Canadian National with 19 short line railroads across the state.

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Waterways

Tennessee is centrally located on the nation’s inland waterway system. The Tennessee, Mississippi, and Cumberland Rivers and their tributaries supply water transport opportunities to many communities across the state. Tennessee enjoys the benefit of more than 1,062 miles of navigatable waterways across the state. The Tennessee inland water system connects terminals on the Tennessee River with river ports in 21 states and ocean ports in the southeast United States. The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway provides Tennessee with direct access to the Gulf of Mexico harbors and international markets.

The Tennessee motor freight industry handles basic and the most specialized needs of business and industry, providing shippers with a variety of options to choose from when in search of a service to meet their needs.

Download a detailed description here.