Over the twenty years I’ve been writing this column, I’ve come across some “fun facts” about transportation. Try dazzling friends at your next BBQ with some of these gems.

HIGHWAYS:

• The average distance driven on I-95 in Connecticut is 11 miles.

Some 180,000 vehicles drive all or part of the 112 miles that I-95 runs through our state.  But even factoring in true interstate drivers (think Florida to Maine), the average distance driven in Connecticut is tiny.  Why? Because we use I-95 like a local road to avoid Route 1, not just for interstate travel.

• Trucks are banned from the Merritt Parkway.  But in 1943 trucks were allowed on that roadway as part of the war effort.

But trucks in those days were much lower, easily clearing the bridges.

AVIATION:

• The supersonic Concorde was a real gas-guzzler.  In the 15 minutes from leaving the gate until takeoff, the jet burned two metric tons of Jet A gas… enough to fly a conventional jet for an hour to Paris.

Carrying just 100 passengers, The Concorde would burn about a ton of fuel per passenger crossing the Atlantic.

• The busiest airport in the world is Atlanta’s Hartsfield International (ATL), handling 108 million passengers last year…almost 296,000 a day.

And most of them fly Delta, which hosts 165 of the airport’s 192 gates, a 86% share of the capacity.

METRO-NORTH:

• Did you know that a fully loaded eight-car train on Metro-North can carry over 1000 passengers…more than double the capacity of a fully loaded 747.

• The 24-mile-long Danbury branch line used to be electrified.  But the wires were ripped out in 1961 to save money by running diesels. The copper was sold as scrap.
• Grand Central Terminal has 67 tracks and 44 platforms, more than any station in the world.

And never call it “Grand Central Station.” That’s the name of the post office and subway station nearby.

HIGH SPEED RAIL:

• America’s only “high speed train” (Acela) can go up to 160 mph. But the average speed it runs traveling 456 miles from Washington DC to Boston is just 70 mph.
• China has the largest high speed network in the world covering more than 29,000 miles and carrying 4 billion passenger trips.  Its trains run as fast as 260 mph.

TRANSIT FARES:

• In Portland Oregon the trains don’t have “Senior” fares. Instead, seniors, veterans, active-duty military personnel, handicapped and low-income residents are called “Honored Citizens” and get 50 – 75% off regular fares.

SHIPPING:

• The biggest container ships sailing today can carry over 24,000 containers. But those mega-ships are too big for the Panama Canal…but not for the Suez Canal, which has no locks.
• New York’s Staten Island Ferry can carry over 6000 passengers per trip.  That added up to 25 million passengers in 2019…more than double the population of Greece.

And yes, the Staten Island Ferry is free. The old 50-cent fare was dropped in 1997 in a nod to the city’s efforts to make access to the tiny borough more affordable.