This page is a collection of multimodal freight data and analysis for northeastern Illinois. 

Developed as part of the ON TO 2050 series of snapshot reports, The Freight System: Leading the way report is now available (posted August 2017). It provides a high-level overview of the regional freight system, including the economic impact, infrastructure needs, and local regulatory challenges.

Regional Freight System Planning Map (posted March, 2013)
Chicago Freight System Planning Map (posted March, 2013)

CMAP has identified truck bottlenecks using the number of congested hours of truck travel per weekday.  Results of this analysis for 2015 and 2018 are linked below:

Map: Truck bottlenecks, 2018 (posted November, 2019)
Map: Truck bottlenecks, 2015 (posted May, 2016)

CMAP's highway congestion scans provide additional congestion data.

Highway-Rail Grade Crossings

CMAP has posted an online, interactive map which shows estimated motorist delays per weekday at each at-grade (level) highway-rail crossings in the 7-county northeastern Illinois region.  The estimates were prepared by CMAP in April, 2024.  2023 estimated delay total 35,737 vehicle hours weekly, a 19.3% reduction from the 2018 estimate.

Map: Grade-crossing delay map (posted April, 2024)
Methods, data, and more information: Description (April, 2024)

Estimated freight volumes, 2007 Estimated Regional Totals with 2040 Regional Forecasts
Regional Freight Volumes: Rail System
Regional Freight Volumes: Trucking System
Regional Freight Volumes: Water and Air Freight

Estimated Volumes by Facility or in Time Series
Maps of Freight Trains per Day:
  -  7-County Chicago Region, 2023 (pdf, 2024, Map 1) 
  -  7-County Chicago Region, 2018 (pdf, 2019, Map 1)
  -  7-County Chicago Region, 2011 (pdf, 2012 Map 1)
  -  Chicago Terminal Area, 2023 (pdf, 2024, Map 2)
  -  Chicago Terminal Area, 2018 (pdf, 2019 Map 2)
  -  Chicago Terminal Area, 2011 (pdf, 2012 Map 2)

Map: Regional Daily Combination Truck Counts (2018) (pdf)
Map: Regional Daily Combination Truck Counts (2012) (pdf)
Map: Regional Daily Combination Truck Counts (2008) (pdf)

Diagram: Daily Interzone Truck Flow Estimates (2007) (pdf)
Diagram: Daily Interzone Truck Flow Forecasts (2040) (pdf)

Tabular Summary: Annual Truck VMT Trends, Urban Highways, Illinois, 2004-2018 (pdf)

Passenger Trains per Day, Seven-County Chicago Area, 2023; (pdf, posted 2024)
Passenger Trains per Day, Seven-County Chicago Area, 2018; (pdf, posted 2019)
Passenger Trains per Day, Seven-County Chicago Area, 2011; (pdf, posted May 2013)

Tabular Summary: 1995-2022 Lifts by Intermodal Rail Yard with Regional Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) Estimate (pdf, April, 2023)

Diagram: 2008 Waterborne Commerce on the Illinois Waterway and the Port of Chicago- Flow of Commerce in Tons (pdf, 400 kb, prints to e-sized sheet)

Tabular Summary: Barge and Tonnage Trends for Locks in the Chicago Metropolitan Area, 2005-2010 (pdf)

Map: Intermodal Facilities and Volumes, Chicago Region, 2015 (pdf)

Map: Truck Parking Facilities in Metropolitan Chicago, 2010 (pdf)

Table: Chicago Region Arterial Peak and Off-Peak Period VMT by Vehicle Class by County, 2007 (pdf, 0.1 MB)

Report: Intermodal Freight Connectors: Pavement Condition: 2009 Update (pdf, 1.2 MB)
Appendix A (pdf, 0.3 MB)
Appendix B (pdf, 6.0 MB)

Map: Abandoned and Out-of-Service Rail Track, 7-County Chicago Region, 2011 (pdf)
Map: Abandoned and Out-of-Service Rail Track, Chicago Terminal Area, 2011 (pdf)
Map: Chicago Area Freight Railroad Yard Facilities, Chicago Terminal Area, 2011 (pdf)

CMAP has completed a series of Policy Updates on industrial land use topics.

• Industrial development trends in the CMAP region (posted January 2015)
• Impacts of national industrial development trends on the Chicago region (posted October 2015)
• Freight land use clusters in northeastern Illinois (posted August 2016)

Illinois Maximum Legal Dimensions and Weights (pdf from IDOT website, revised February 2018)

Rail-system collisions
We've made an online interactive map of rail collisions in the seven-county northeastern Illinois region available for planners and engineers working on capital, operating, and programmatic improvements to the region's rail system. The map provides not only motor-vehicle-train collisions at grade crossings (available from FRA and IDOT) and non-motorized collisions at grade crossings (available from FRA), but also collisions away from grade crossings. Consistent with guidance from our state partners during our work on grade-crossing improvements, this data includes all known incidents, regardless of the cause or manner of the incident. The information is being provided with the assistance and cooperation of the rail-safety staff of the Illinois Commerce Commission. The dataset spans the years 2012-2021.

Online map: Rail Collisions, 2012-2021 (posted March, 2024)
Geodatabase for users' analytical needs: Geodatabase (posted March, 2024)

Truck Crashes
Poster Map: Truck Crash Density, 7-County Region, 2006-2008 (pdf, 3.2 MB)
Poster Map: Truck Crash Density, City of Chicago, 2006-2008 (pdf, 1.5 MB)
Poster Map: Fatal and Incapacitating Truck Crash Hot Spots, 7-County Region, 2006-2008 (pdf, 800 KB)
Poster Map: Fatal and Incapacitating Truck Crash Hot Spots, City of Chicago, 2006-2008 (pdf, 2.5 MB)

The report below was compiled in support of the development of the GO TO 2040 Comprehensive Regional Plan.  Many of the recommendations in the report were adopted in GO TO 2040, but the report is not adopted as a policy document.  Nonetheless, the report contains valuable information and insight into the multi-modal freight system in the Chicago region.

Freight System Planning Recommendations (pdf, 14MB)

Appendices (pdf, 6MB)