Document And Entity Information	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011	Oct. 31, 2011
Document And Entity Information [Abstract]
Document Type	10-Q
Amendment Flag	false
Document Period End Date	Sep. 30, 2011
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q3
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2011
Entity Registrant Name	Con-way Inc.
Trading Symbol	cnw
Entity Central Index Key	0000023675
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		55,588,740