The water transportation system alone is extraordinary. The nine ports on Lake Erie and 16 Ohio River terminals see roughly the same barge and freighter traffic as the Panama Canal. Also served by almost 33,000 trucking companies and three dozen railroads, Ohio is a favored location for national distribution centers. Ohioans drive on the nation's fourth largest interstate highway system and live within an hour's air travel of two-thirds of the U.S. population. Major network links run from Cleveland south to Columbus, Springfield, Dayton and Cincinnati, with multiple redundant network links.
All roads lead to plentiful resources.
Ninety percent of the state has ready access to water from inland lakes, streams and rivers, as well as the abundant supply from Lake Erie's 265 miles of shoreline and the 450-mile flow of the Ohio River at the southern border. Coal supplies are among the nation's largest. The deregulation of natural gas and continuing deregulation of electricity keep power competitively priced.