Traffic congestion is worse than before pandemic, report reveals

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, vehicle traffic plummeted with stay-at-home orders activated and remote work commonplace. Four years later, we’re back to the status quo, with traffic congestion worse in all but two metro areas in the United States.

That’s according to a new report released by transportation data company StreetLight Data that looked into how vehicle miles traveled and traffic congestion have changed since 2019. The short answer: Americans are driving more, generating worsening traffic conditions.

In theory, an increase in work-from-home opportunities created by the pandemic would decrease vehicle miles traveled and traffic congestion in the nation’s 100 largest metros. In practice, Americans have reverted to pre-pandemic driving habits and beyond.

According to the report, traffic congestion was down in May 2024 compared to May 2019 in only two metro areas in the nation: San Francisco (minus 0.4%) and Albuquerque (minus 0.3%). Congestion was unchanged in four metros, including Los Angeles. Everywhere else, traffic is worse off now than it was before the pandemic, dominated by areas on or near the East Coast:

1. Boise, Idaho (up 3%)
2. Buffalo, N.Y. (2.8%)
3. Cape Coral, Fla. (2.7%)
4. New Haven, Conn. (2.7%)
5. Lakeland, Fla. (2.6%)
6. Syracuse, N.Y. (2.5%)
7. North Port-Sarasota, Fla. (2.5%)
8. Bridgeport-Stamford, Conn. (2.5%)
9. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa.-N.J. (2.4%)
10. Scranton, Pa. (2.3%)

Those are the worst metros by a percentage change in traffic congestion since 2019. Accounting for overall congestion, the usual suspects are the worst places to drive, including:

1. Los Angeles
2. Miami-Fort Lauderdale
3. New York-Newark-Jersey City
4. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas
5. Bridgeport-Stamford, Conn.
6. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.
7. San Francisco
8. Philadelphia
9. Chicago
10. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.

Worsening traffic congestion is strongly correlated with miles driven. Vehicle miles traveled are at or below spring 2019 levels in only 13 metro areas.

Only four metros have a double-digit decrease, all in California and led by Los Angeles (minus 17%). There were massive increases in vehicle miles traveled in Boise (up 58%) and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas (68%).

Per capita, vehicle miles traveled are lowest in California, New York and Washington state. Conversely, the metros with the highest miles driven per capita are all in the Southeast. StreetLight Data notes this is likely due to differences in population densities and availability of public transit.

Drilling down to the top 25 core downtown areas, the situation is slightly better. Vehicle miles traveled are down in 18 of 25 major downtowns, including several double-digit drops as high as 25%. However, traffic congestion is better in only seven downtown areas, led by Minneapolis (down 1.5%).

Although there are double-digit decreases in vehicle miles traveled, the only two decreases in traffic congestion in metro areas are a fraction of a percent. In fact, Los Angeles has the largest drop in vehicle miles traveled, but congestion is the same as it was four years ago. It took a 25% drop in miles driven in downtown San Francisco to yield a 0.5% drop in congestion.

According to StreetLight Data, this discrepancy suggests that “congestion is quite stubborn.”

The report states that the go-to solution for traffic congestion – adding more roads and lanes – is not solving the problem.

“For transportation agencies and their partners at the local, state and federal level tackling congestion and VMT on behalf of safety, equity, public health, climate or economic goals, infrastructure investments like transit and denser land use can help pull the VMT trendline downward while supporting GDP,” StreetLight states in the report. “The challenge is reimagining cities and suburbs to enable vibrant, less vehicle-centric lifestyles.”

One prime example is New York City. According to StreetLight’s report, the Big Apple leads in both worsening vehicle miles traveled and traffic congestion among large downtowns. Metrowide, New York City saw congestion worsen faster than the next 47 most populated cities.

The nation’s largest city attempted to combat the issue with congestion pricing before the governor temporarily pulled the plug on that plan. Ironically, Gov. Kathy Hochul cited worsening economic conditions since the pandemic when explaining her decision.

“Circumstances have changed, and we must respond to the facts on the ground, not from the rhetoric five years ago,” Hochul said. “After careful consideration, I have come to the difficult decision that implementing the planned congestion pricing system risks too many unintended consequences for New Yorkers at this time.”

On the bright side, data from the federal government indicates that traffic fatalities are approaching pre-pandemic levels. Considering traffic deaths spiked in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, that’s a good thing. Traffic fatalities jumped for seven consecutive quarters beginning in the third quarter of 2020, sending annual numbers for 2021 the highest they have been since 2005. Deaths on the nation’s highways have been declining every quarter since the second quarter of 2022. LL