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The United States and its NAFTA partners can crow about surface transportation trade in October, when freight value reached a crescendo.

Goods valued at more than $74.2 billion crossed the U.S. border into and out of Canada and Mexico, representing an 11.1 percent increase compared with October 2006's surface trade and establishing a new monthly record, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The NAFTA partners set the previous monthly high of $69.8 billion in March 2007.

Surface transportation refers to freight movements by rail, truck and pipeline. About 90 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves via land transportation.

During the month, import traffic via rail increased 11.9 percent and export traffic jumped 17.4 percent compared with October 2006 figures. Import freight via trucks and pipelines rose 8.2 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively; trucked export traffic went up 12.3 percent, but pipelined export freight plummeted 41.1 percent.

The value of merchandise trade between the United States and Canada in October jumped 14.1 percent year over year to $47.7 billion. U.S. trade with Mexico rose 6 percent to $26.6 billion.