Goods are transported across the U.S. on trucks and rail cars, so keeping an eye on rail traffic and diesel fuel consumed gives you a good luck at actual, and very accurate, data.
The rail car data for crushed stone stinks...
As does the data for Lumber...
Whatever stimulus that made its way out of Washington did not go to "shovel ready" projects. I'll give you 2 1/2 guesses where they went...
