Regardless of national origin, pretty much all of it came from outside Atlanta, by means ranging from 1,200-foot-long container vessel to oxcart. And that's just breakfast. For all of our activities, the average American requires the movement of 57 tons of cargo per year.

The scale of the infrastructure that moves our stuff is staggering, yet we hardly notice it beyond appreciating how fast a book has arrived or growing agitated with double-parked delivery trucks. But the ships, trains, trucks, ports, rails, roads, and support structure that facilitates the metabolism of our society will soon be more visible. The Census Bureau estimates a nearly 20 percent population increase by 2040—that's one new person every 12 seconds who needs and wants stuff.

If we don't figure out how to manage the influx, not only will our freight traffic slow to a standstill, so will we.

The Port of Savannah is the mouth that feeds Atlanta and other southern U.S. cities. It is the fourth busiest container port in the country behind the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and New York/Newark, and has been the fastest-growing port in the country for more than a decade. It's also about to get bigger: Funding for the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, set to be completed in 2018, was recently approved at a cost of $706 million. This allows the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge 30 miles of channel from 42 to 47 feet, necessary for Savannah to compete for the larger ships able to reach the East Coast once the expanded Panama Canal opens for business in 2015.

Read more