Rush hour-and-a-half: traffic is spreading out post-lockdown

Matthew Wigginton Bhagat-Conway and Sam Zhang

No 6khsj, OSF Preprints from Center for Open Science

Abstract: Urban roadways are used inefficiently, with capacity scaled to meet peak demands and underutilization at off-peak hours. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted the transportation system, and one possible outcome is a spreading of rush hour. We use six years of highway sensor data from the California state highway system to evaluate that possibility, and find that peaks are spreading in the post-lockdown period, the spreading is statistically significant, and has been relatively stable since summer 2021. Spreading of peak travel periods calls into question highway expansion plans based on pre-pandemic travel forecasts.

Date: 2022-09-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-tre and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:osfxxx:6khsj

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/6khsj

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