We often hear about the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, but one good side effect surprisingly is traffic.
Research done by Texas A&M University's Transportation Institute shows delays on Texas roads are growing -- but still falling short of pre-COVID numbers.
This is year 13 of the analysis and it’s done to pinpoint the most congested areas in Texas so The Texas Department of Transportation and other agencies can make necessary improvements.
This map shows hot spot areas for delays in the state of Texas.
Senior research scientist at Texas A&M and lead researcher on the annual study David Schrank says I-35 in Austin ranked number three. Traditionally the highway came in at one or two on the list. Schrank believes the pandemic played a role.
“There were a lot of trips that weren’t being made or being made at different times of the day. So traffic was not as bad on I-35 especially in the first half of 2021 compared to some of its peers across the state that didn’t have work-from-home opportunities,” Schrank said.
The research was based on gridlock traffic from 2021 and examined more than 1,800 roadway sections from Texas urban areas covering almost 10,000 miles. Traffic was down about one or two percent according to the report. Delays were down 28 percent compared to 2019 levels.
“I think the takeaway is we know where congestion is at. In a lot of those locations, something is being done about it. They may not be out there right now, but there are plans underway and does take time," said Schrank.
Houston’s West Loop was the state’s most gridlocked stretch in 2021, as it was the previous year. The Woodall Rodgers Freeway in Dallas, Interstate Highway 35 in Austin, and Houston’s Eastex and Southwest Freeways rounded out the top five. Austin’s IH-35 had the most severe truck freight congestion in 2021 – also a repeat from the previous year.
Researchers note that traffic delays impose an immense financial burden. Those costs – a result of lost time and wasted fuel – totaled more than $3.8 billion on the state’s 100 most traffic-choked road sections during 2021, about 10 percent lower than pre-pandemic levels. Truck congestion costs were $620 million in the same year, essentially unchanged since 2019.
Though the worst stretches are concentrated in Texas’ biggest population centers, gridlock affects areas of all sizes, as illustrated by TTI’s complete list of 1,860 road segments in 23 urban regions across the state.
“We can't rest on the fact that working from home showed we made a big difference it did. But if we're going to grow at the massive rates that are projected, we're going to need more of everything,” said Schrank.
To read the full analysis, click here.