The early settlers came to Iowa by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and the Great Lakes, then traveled overland on trails via wagon and stagecoach. The need of Iowa farmers to haul their products to market over long distances prompted the development of the railroads, particularly during the 1880s. River traffic still plays a vital role in the state's transport.
In 2000, Iowa had 4,389 mi (7,063 km) of track, including 2,431 route miles (3,912 km) of Class I track operated by three railroads. Amtrak operates the long-distance California Zephyr (Chicago to Oakland, Calif.) and Southwest Chief (Chicago to Los Angeles, Calif.), serving six major stations in Iowa.
Iowa had 113,377 mi (182,462 km) of public roadway in 2000, including 103,513 rural mi (166,588 km) and 9,864 urban mi (15,874 km). In 2000, there were 3,232,894 registered vehicles in the state, including 1,751,690 automobiles, 1,346,310 trucks, and 8,223 buses, with 1,952,508 licensed drivers.
Iowa is bordered by two great navigable rivers, the Mississippi and the Missouri. They provided excellent transport facilities for the early settlers via keelboats and paddle-wheel steamers. Today, rivers remain an important part of Iowa's intermodal transportation system. In 1996, nearly 43 million tons of cargo moved on the Mississippi past Davenport, including over 26 million tons of grain. Important terminal ports on the Mississippi are Dubuque and Davenport; and on the Missouri, Sioux City and Council Bluffs. These rivers provide shippers a gateway to an extensive inland waterway system that has access to ports in St. Paul, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Houston, and New Orleans. Most docks in Iowa are privately owned, and all are privately operated.
Iowa's busiest airfield is Des Moines Municipal Airport, which handled 845,290 enplaned passengers in 2000.