Name: Here's What The Coronavirus Crisis Is Doing To LA's Freeway Traffic
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Here's What The Coronavirus Crisis Is Doing To LA's Freeway Traffic

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Support for LAist comes fromWe Explain L.A.Stay ConnectedLAist is part of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), a member-supported public media network. Hear our news on-air at our partner site:Our top stories delivered weeknightsShare ThisThis is an archival story that predates current editorial management.This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click.Stories like these are only possible with your help!You have the power to keep local news strong for the coming months. Your financial support today keeps our reporters ready to meet the needs of our city. Thank you for investing in your community.Sign up for How To LA, delivered weekday mornings.Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: . To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate Now.I've been reporting on how the COVID-19 crisis is -- including its .It's that there are way fewer cars on Southern California freeways in the age of coronavirus. Now, about a month into our region's official stay-at-home phase of the global health crisis, we are getting a better picture of the impact on traffic.I reached out to -- which monitors and measures traffic flow on our freeways -- to ask what differences they're seeing on the roads. The agency's Traffic Operations Division sent over sets of data measuring Vehicle Miles Traveled (), which is calculated by adding up all the miles driven by cars and trucks on roadways in a specific time period.Support for LAist comes fromThe data broke down VMT by hour on freeways within Los Angeles city limits and across L.A. County as measured on March 2 (a simpler time) and April 6. The findings:The agency also measures hours of delay by calculating how long cars spend on freeways traveling less than 60 miles per hour. It showed that, from March 2 to April 6:So, there's some empirical evidence for you: our region's freeway traffic volume fell by a third in just over a month. But what effect is our decreased car- and truck-based pollution having on local air quality? That's still up in the air (zing).Researchers with the have been working to understand how much of our clearer air is linked to reduced vehicle emissions, but there's one particular challenge: traffic started tapering off about the same time rainstorms rolled in -- and you may have noticed the weather was especially wet and cold last week, too. AQMD spokesman Bradley Whitaker explained to me recently:"...we continue to see rain, cold weather and windy days, which can push pollutants out of the atmosphere and improve the air, making it challenging to separate the effects of weather and recent reduction in emissions using air quality models. Once weather returns to more typical conditions and we have a longer period of data, we can better analyze the effects of the reduced emissions."In a general sense, yes, fewer cars on the roads means less air pollution. But it turns out atmospheric chemistry is playing out in more complicated ways, particularly in the inland regions of Southern California. I have more on that here:EXPLORE MORECaltrans also provided this list, showing decreased VMT for all sections of freeway within L.A. city limits.MORE ON CORONAVIRUS:Support for LAist comes from

Support for LAist comes fromWe Explain L.A.Stay ConnectedLAist is part of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), a member-supported public media network. Hear our news on-air at our partner site:Our top stories delivered weeknightsShare ThisThis is an archival story that predates current editorial management.This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial...

Here's What The Coronavirus Crisis Is Doing To LA's Freeway Traffic

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