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The pandemic has changed driving habits in metro Atlanta

Overall, traffic volumes are back to normal, but not in some places.

ATLANTA — Traffic levels in Georgia have inched back to pre-pandemic levels, but in some areas, at some hours, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our commuting habits.

At 8:30 on a Wednesday morning, Interstate 75 northbound in Henry County is missing all the brake lights that go with a typical rush hour.

Gary Nelson, who drives all over metro Atlanta, believes the pandemic has changed commuting habits forever.

“It allowed people to change their careers,” Nelson said. “I believe they make different choices now. We’ve adjusted.”

There are places along metro interstates where commuters are back to old habits.

“The amount of people on the road is the same now,” Natalie Dale of the Georgia Department of Transportation said. “When they are on the road is still just a bit different.”

GDOT sent 11Alive volumes of data comparing current traffic levels to what they were just before the pandemic. The numbers show times and places where volumes are quite different than they were in February of 2020. 

For example, traffic on Georgia 400 at Pitts Road is down 13% when you compare the month just before pandemic shutdowns to February of this year.

Mondays and Fridays are down in several spots. For example, Monday traffic is down 17% on I-285 at Peachtree Industrial. Fridays are 14% off at I-20 and I-285 in Dekalb.

Dale says lessons about flexibility during the pandemic are still being used today.

“The trend is that you may not have to be in the office at a certain time,” Dale said. “You can have some flexibility. You can work from home in the morning.”

Dale says while evening traffic is pretty much back to pre-pandemic levels, the morning rush hour now starts later and lasts longer.

 

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