Traffic Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Statewide Analysis of Social Separation and Activity Restriction

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant social and economic impacts throughout the world. In addition to the health consequences, the impacts on travel behavior have also been sudden and wide ranging. This study describes the drastic changes in human behavior using the analysis of highway volume data as a representation of personal activity and interaction. Same-day traffic volumes for 2019 and 2020 across Florida were analyzed to identify spatial and temporal changes in behavior resulting from the disease or fear of it and statewide directives to limit person-to-person interaction. Compared to similar days in 2019, overall statewide traffic volume dropped by 47.5%. Although decreases were evident across the state, there were also differences between rural and urban areas and between highways and arterials both in terms of the timing and extent. The data and analyses help to demonstrate the early impacts of the pandemic and may be useful for operational and strategic planning of recovery efforts and for dealing with future pandemics.

Social-distancing Fatigue: Evidence from Real-time Crowd-sourced Traffic Data

“…Dramatic decreases in traffic have been noted in NYC 17 and many other places [18][19][20][21] in response to the pandemic, including Padova, Italy 18 and Auckland, New Zealand. 19 The study in Padova found a decrease in traffic flow (vehicle counts per unit time) in 2020 of approximately 70%, compared to 2018-2017.…”

Using the Decrease in Trauma Admissions During the COVID-19 Pandemic to Evaluate Compliance With Stay-at-Home and Social Distancing Guidelines

“…With the establishment of the "new normal," new trends were seen with emergency department (ED) admission rates. A notable trend was the decrease in automobile traffic volume that was seen nationally [1], which led to reports of fewer traffic accidents throughout states such as Florida and Missouri [2], and internationally in Turkey and Australia [1,3,4]. Concurrently, the lockdowns have led to decreased number of trauma cases [5][6][7] by 57.4% [8], contributing to a decrease in the volume of neurosurgical care by 40% [9][10][11].…”

Impacts of COVID-19 on transportation: Summary and synthesis of interdisciplinary research

“…These changes have resulted both from fear of getting sick and from restrictions imposed by government. Parr et al (2020) found that in Florida while the decrease in mobility was triggered by emergency orders, business closures, online schooling and reduced social activities led to freeway traffic declining by 52.4% and arterial volumes by 40.5% compared to 2019. Social distancing orders and curtailment of non-essential travel were common restrictions implemented by many state and local governments throughout the United States and the rest of the world ( Kim et al, 2021 ).…”