The iShares U.S. Transportation ETF (IYT) was launched on 10/06/2003, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market.While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Industrials - Transportation/Shipping is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 11, placing it in bottom 31%.Index DetailsThe fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $1.83 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market. IYT seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones Transportation Average Index before fees and expenses.The S&P Transportation Select Industry FMC Capped Index (USD) measures the performance of companies from the Industrial Transportation, Airline and General Industrial Services industries of the U.S. equity market.CostsExpense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.41%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.79%.Sector Exposure and Top HoldingsIt is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector--about 100% of the portfolio.Looking at individual holdings, Union Pacific Corp (UNP) accounts for about 17.11% of total assets, followed by United Parcel Service Inc Class B (UPS) and Csx Corp (CSX).The top 10 holdings account for about 71.82% of total assets under management.Performance and RiskThe ETF has lost about -1.58% so far this year and was up about 18.72% in the last one year (as of 01/13/2022). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $213.12 and $279.97.The ETF has a beta of 1.22 and standard deviation of 27.29% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 52 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.AlternativesIShares U.S. Transportation ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IYT is an outstanding option for investors seeking exposure to the Industrials ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.First Trust NASDAQ Transportation ETF (FTXR) tracks Nasdaq US Smart Transportation Index and the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) tracks U.S. Global Jets Index. First Trust NASDAQ Transportation ETF has $1.27 billion in assets, U.S. Global Jets ETF has $3.46 billion. FTXR has an expense ratio of 0.60% and JETS charges 0.60%.Bottom LineTo learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center. Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox? Zacks’ free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week.Get it free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report iShares U.S. Transportation ETF (IYT): ETF Research Reports CSX Corporation (CSX): Free Stock Analysis Report Union Pacific Corporation (UNP): Free Stock Analysis Report United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS): Free Stock Analysis Report U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS): ETF Research Reports First Trust NASDAQ Transportation ETF (FTXR): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here.