What the COVID-19 crisis has done to Houston's traffic
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- It's no surprise that with the extended work at home order, we are continuing to see lighter traffic. ABC13 collected data from Transtar comparing traffic before and during the pandemic.
Transtar measured the number of cars using a radar site at I-10/Katy Freeway and Voss, and compared to this time last year, the number of cars passing through this location in a 24-hour period is down approximately 50%.
Looking at single-day data, on March 25, 2019 there were 108,881 cars on the road in a 24-hour period. On March 25, 2020, there were only 39,022.
During the peak morning rush hours of 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., traffic volume dropped 39%, and in the heaviest evening rush hours of 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., it's down 47%.
Transtar also looked at speed data on our freeways. And no surprise, fewer cars mean faster speeds.
On I-45 North, measurements show the average inbound speeds at about 64 miles per hour, which was an increase of 121%. The inbound speed on the Gulf Freeway increased by 77% and on the Southwest Freeway, the increase was 105%.
