MD Traffic Reaches Pre-Pandemic Levels: How Travel Habits Changed

HANOVER, MD ? As dining has opened up, face mask restrictions have eased and the state's state of emergency has expired, Marylanders have hit the roads, filled airports and are otherwise on the move this summer.

Travel numbers are close to pre-pandemic levels, the Maryland Department of Transportation said. In Maryland, highway volumes topped 2019 levels the first week of July, the agency said.

One area where traffic has not fully rebounded is in the use of taxis and rideshare services, which remain down.

At the height of the pandemic, statewide highway travel fell by as much as 50 percent and passenger traffic at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport dropped more than 90 percent as Marylanders heeded Gov. Larry Hogan's call to limit travel to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

But travel has rebounded with much of the state's residents vaccinated for COVID-19 and summer vacation season underway.

?Marylanders are getting back to business and back to their lives with growing confidence," MDOT Secretary Greg Slater said in a news release. ?The numbers we're seeing around the state reflects the strong desire of travelers to work, play and experience everything Maryland has to offer ? and it also shows the demand for reliable, safe and healthy transportation options."

Changes in traffic patterns were studied by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety?s New American Driving Survey.

?The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on our commute habits and patterns in the United States,? said Dr. David Yang, executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, in a news release.

Daily trips for all modes of transportation fell from an average of 3.7 trips per day in 2019 to 2.2 trips in April 2020, before slightly recovering. After abruptly decreasing in April 2020, daily trips by U.S. residents rebounded somewhat in May and June and then remained at about 20 to 25 percent below their 2019 levels during the second half of 2020.

In early April 2020, as lockdowns and stay-at-home orders were going into effect, INRIX estimates vehicle miles traveled dropped by 46 percent. Lower traffic counts in the nation?s capital resulted in Washington, D.C. dropping from the fifth most congested city in America to the nation?s 12th most gridlocked place last year, according to the INRIX 2020 Global Traffic Scorecard.

Baltimore saw a 68 percent decline in traffic counts in the early spring of 2020, the Traffic Scorecard reveals. The AAA report said traffic volume dipped 52 percent in Frederick; traffic counts were 14 percent lower in Annapolis; and the number of vehicles on the road in Hagerstown tumbled 30 percent.

?Fewer vehicles on the road in 2020 resulted in drivers saving money due to the lack of congestion,? said INRIX and AAA.

?Looking ahead, reports of the death knell for traffic gridlock and the dearth of highway congestion in the Washington metro area ?have been greatly exaggerated,? to paraphrase Mark Twain,? said John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic?s manager of public and government affairs.

Other AAA Findings

Travel by transit, taxi, or rideshare: The proportion of people who reported making any trips by transit, taxi, or rideshare dropped from 5.5 percent pre-pandemic to 1.7 percent in April of 2020, before leveling off at about 2.4 percent for the remainder of the year.

Commuter Travel: Work-related travel by all transportation modes dropped by 40 percent in April 2020, likely reflecting a mix of layoffs, job losses, and telecommuting. Commuting trips made by workers on days when they worked decreased by about 22 percent relative to pre-pandemic levels as well.

In the following months, commuting trips returned to about 26 percent below pre-pandemic levels among the population as a whole, likely due to increases in the proportion of Americans who were working. Commuting remained about 25 percent below pre-pandemic levels among workers on days when they worked, indicative of continued widespread telecommuting.

Takeaways From The MDOT

Roadways/Bridges: Comparing the first week of July 2019 to the same week in 2021 ? both leading into the Fourth of July weekend ? total vehicular traffic on Maryland roads this year topped 2019 levels for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Statewide figures recorded by MDOT State Highway Administration show a 0.4 percent increase in traffic levels this year compared to the first week in July 2019.

For the Baltimore area, in the stretch of the Baltimore Beltway between I-895 and US 1, average daily traffic this year was 138,460 for the week leading into the Fourth of July weekend, an increase of 5 percent compared to 131,872 for the same week in 2019. In the National Capital Region, volumes on the Capital Beltway at the American Legion Bridge exceeded pre-pandemic levels with average daily traffic of 226,851 this year, an increase of 0.26 percent compared to 226,274 for the same week in 2019.

Maryland Transportation Authority bridges and other toll facilities exceeded 2019 customer volumes for the first time since March 2020. At the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, average daily traffic during the first week in July also exceeded pre-pandemic numbers. Bay Bridge traffic was up 0.92 percent compared to the same week in July 2019, from 88,700 in 2019 to 89,514 this year.

BWI Airport: On Friday, July 2, BWI Marshall Airport experienced its busiest day for departing passenger traffic since the start of the pandemic, as the Transportation Security Administration screened 28,655 departing passengers. Overall, weekly volumes remain about 25 percent lower than 2019 levels as business travel still lags behind leisure travel, but air traffic continues to grow on a weekly basis.