JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A new study shows the coronavirus pandemic flattened roadway congestion -- but not for long.
According to the 2021 Urban Mobility Report, congestion levels throughout much of the country have rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels.
The report from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute found that nationwide, travelers spent 8.7 billion hours sitting in traffic in 2019, but that number dropped to 4.3 billion last year.
According to the report, wasted fuel dropped from 3.5 billion gallons in 2019 to 1.7 billion gallons in 2020, and the cost of congestion was also cut by nearly half -- from $190 billion in 2019 to $101 billion last year.
The study also shows there is a new king of congestion. While the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim region had the country’s worst traffic since 1982, USA Today reports, the New York-Newark region is now the gridlock capital of the United States, according to the report. The report found the average New York driver spent 56 hours stuck in traffic last year -- down from 96 hours in 2019, while drivers in the Los Angeles area saw an even bigger change -- dropping from 119 hours of delays in 2019 to 46 hours in 2020.
In Jacksonville, according to the report, the average driver was stuck in traffic for 53 hours in 2019. For those who continued commuting in 2020, that number dropped to 21 hours, the report shows.
What was Florida’s most congested city in 2020? According to the report, Miami checked in at 42nd, Orlando ranked 72nd and Jacksonville was 77th.