Truck Traffic during COVID-19 Restrictions
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 150, Issue 5
Abstract
The global COVID-19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact on transportation worldwide. Significant decreases in transportation across all modes were evident and sustained as governments worldwide implemented various countrywide closures and quarantine restrictions to slow the spread of the virus. This paper quantifies and assesses daily vehicle counts by Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) vehicle classifications during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York and Florida throughout 2020. The study found that during March and April of 2020, traffic among all investigated FHWA categories was significantly reduced in both Florida and New York. However, commodity carriers in both states were able to recover faster and remained more consistent than passenger vehicles. This pattern was also observed in both urban and rural communities in Florida. The findings of this work demonstrate how commodity carrier movements, assessed through FHWA vehicle category counts, were less impacted by the governmental restrictions during the pandemic than passenger transportation. While overall traffic volume dropped by more than half in most places at the height of the pandemic, larger commodity-carrying vehicles remained nearly unchanged from the prior year by June of 2020. This was likely because of the critical need to maintain trucking movements to sustain populations. Understanding how truck traffic and freight movements more broadly were impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic is critical in preserving the continuity of service and preventing supply shortages in the event of future outbreaks.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
Funding for this research was provided by the Freight Mobility Research Institute located at Florida Atlantic University, the Center for Cooperative Mobility for Competitive Megaregions at the University of Texas, and the Center for Advanced Transportation Mobility at North Carolina A&T University, all United States Department of Transportation University Transportation Centers. The authors would also like to thank Joey Gordon of the Florida Department of Transportation for his assistance in providing the data used in this research as well as, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Students Fanny Kristiansson and Tate Grant for their support in data collection and processing.
References
Ali, B. J. 2020. “Impact of COVID-19 on consumer buying behavior toward online shopping in Iraq.” Econ. Stud. J. 18 (42): 267–280.
Aubrey, A. 2020. “Trump declares coronavirus a public health emergency and restricts travel from China.” Accessed March 18, 2020. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/31/801686524/trump-declares-coronavirus-a-public-health-emergency-and-restricts-travel-from-c.
Beck, M. J., and D. A. Hensher. 2020. “Insights into the impact of COVID-19 on household travel and activities in Australia–The early days under restrictions.” Transp. Policy 96: 76–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2020.07.001.
Bennett, J., and W. Briggs. 2005. Using and understanding mathematics: A quantitative reasoning approach. 3rd ed. Boston: Pearson.
Bhatti, A., H. Akram, H. M. Basit, A. U. Khan, S. M. Raza, and M. B. Naqvi. 2020. “E-commerce trends during COVID-19 pandemic.” Int. J. Future Gener. Commun. Networking 13 (2): 1449–1452.
Cartenì, A., L. Di Francesco, and M. Martino. 2020. “How mobility habits influenced the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic: Results from the Italian case study.” Sci. Total Environ. 741: 140489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140489.
Choi, T.-M. 2020. “Innovative ‘bring-service-near-your-home; operations under corona-virus (COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2) outbreak: Can logistics become the Messiah?” Transp. Res. Part E Logist. Transp. Rev. 140: 101961. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2020.101961.
Cutway, A. 2020. “Timeline: The spread of coronavirus in Florida.” Accessed December 5, 2020. https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/03/20/timeline-the-spread-of-coronavirus-in-Florida/.
Deb, S., S. Cacciola, and M. Stein. 2020. “Sports leagues bar fans and cancel games amid coronavirus outbreak.” Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/sports/basketball/warriors-coronavirus-fans.html.
De Haas, M., R. Faber, and M. Hamersma. 2020. “How COVID-19 and the Dutch ‘intelligent lockdown’ change activities, work and travel behaviour: Evidence from longitudinal data in the Netherlands.” Transp. Res. Interdiscip. Perspect. 6: 100150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100150.
Depellegrin, D., M. Bastianini, A. Fadini, and S. Menegon. 2020. “The effects of COVID- 19 induced lockdown measures on maritime settings of a coastal region.” Sci. Total Environ. 740: 140123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140123.
Donné, V. 2020. “Improve bicycle and pedestrian facilities for more social distancing and bicycle use.” Verkeersspecialist 26 (267): 22–28.
FHWA (Federal Highway Administration). 2014. “Traffic monitoring guide. Office of highway policy information—Policy.” Accessed December 5, 2020. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/tmguide/tmg_2013/vehicle-types.cfm.
Fong, M. W., H. Gao, J. Y. Wong, J. Xiao, E. Y. Shiu, S. Ryu, and B. J. Cowling. 2020. “Nonpharmaceutical measures for pandemic influenza in nonhealthcare settings—Social distancing measures.” Emerging Infect. Dis. 26 (5): 976. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2605.190995.
Govindan, K., H. Mina, and B. Alavi. 2020. “A decision support system for demand management in healthcare supply chains considering the epidemic outbreaks: A case study of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).” Transp. Res. Part E Logist. Transp. Rev. 138: 101967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2020.101967.
Hadjidemetriou, G. M., M. Sasidharan, G. Kouyialis, and A. K. Parlikad. 2020. “The impact of government measures and human mobility trend on COVID-19 related deaths in the UK.” Transp. Res. Interdiscip. Perspect. 6: 100167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100167.
Huynh, T. L. D. 2020. “Does culture matter social distancing under the COVID-19 pandemic?” Saf. Sci. 130 (Oct): 104872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104872.
Iacus, S. M., F. Natale, C. Santamaria, S. Spyratos, and M. Vespe. 2020. “Estimating and projecting air passenger traffic during the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak and its socio-economic impact.” Saf. Sci. 129: 104791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104791.
Ito, H., S. Hanaoka, and T. Kawasaki. 2020. “The cruise industry and the COVID-19 outbreak.” Transp. Res. Interdiscip. Perspect. 5: 100136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100136.
Ivanov, D. 2020. “Predicting the impacts of epidemic outbreaks on global supply chains: A simulation- based analysis on the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2) case.” Transp. Res. Part E Logist. Transp. Rev. 136: 101922. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2020.101922.
Jackson, C., E. Vynnycky, J. Hawker, B. Olowokure, and P. Mangtani. 2013. “School closures and influenza: Systematic review of epidemiological studies.” BMJ Open 3 (2): e002149. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002149.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. 2020. “Florida—COVID-19 overview-Johns Hopkins.” Accessed December 5, 2020. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/us/florida.
Koch, J., B. Frommeyer, and G. Schewe. 2020. “Online shopping motives during the COVID- 19 pandemic—Lessons from the crisis.” Sustainability 12 (24): 10247. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410247.
Lemke, M. K., Y. Apostolopoulos, and S. Sönmez. 2020. “Syndemic frameworks to understand the effects of COVID-19 on commercial driver stress, health, and safety.” J. Transp. Health 18: 100877.
Liptak, K. 2020. “Trump declares national emergency—and denies responsibility for coronavirus testing failures.” Accessed April 18, 2020. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA617358743&sid=sitemap&v=2.1&it=r&p=EAIM&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7Ed5045d76&aty=open-web-entry.
Loske, D. 2020. “The impact of COVID-19 on transport volume and freight capacity dynamics: An empirical analysis in German food retail logistics.” Transp. Res. Interdiscip. Perspect. 6: 100165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100165.
Nakamura, H., and S. Managi. 2020. “Airport risk of importation and exportation of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Transp. Policy 96: 40–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2020.06.018.
Nguyen, H. V., H. X. Tran, L. Van Huy, X. N. Nguyen, M. T. Do, and N. Nguyen. 2020. “Online book shopping in Vietnam: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic situation.” Publ. Res. Q. 36 (3): 437–445. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-020-09732-2.
Nikolaou, P., and L. Dimitriou. 2020. “Identification of critical airports for controlling global infectious disease outbreaks: Stress-tests focusing in Europe.” J. Air Transp. Manage. 85: 101819. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2020.101819.
O’Leary, H., S. Parr, and M. M. El-Sayed. 2022. “The breathing human infrastructure: Integrating air quality, traffic, and social media indicators.” Sci. Total Environ. 827 (Apr): 154209.
Parr, S., B. Wolshon, P. Murray-Tuite, and T. Lomax. 2021. “Multistate assessment of roadway travel, social separation, and COVID-19 cases.” J. Transp. Eng. Part A Syst. 146 (5): 04021012.
Parr, S., B. Wolshon, J. Renne, P. Murray-Tuite, and K. Kim. 2020. “Traffic impacts of the COVID- 19 pandemic: Statewide analysis of social separation and activity restriction.” Nat. Hazard. Rev. 21 (3): 04020025. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000409.
Roggeveen, A. L., and R. Sethuraman. 2020. “How the COVID-19 pandemic may change the world of retailing.” J. Retailing 96 (2): 169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2020.04.002.
Sadique, M. Z., E. J. Adams, and W. J. Edmunds. 2008. “Estimating the costs of school closure for mitigating an influenza pandemic.” BMC Public Health 8 (1): 135. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-8-135.
Shekhar, S., K. Yang, V. M. Gunturi, L. Manikonda, D. Oliver, X. Zhou, B. George, S. Kim, J. M. Wolff, and Q. Lu. 2012. “Experiences with evacuation route planning algorithms.” Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci. 26 (12): 2253–2265. https://doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2012.719624.
Sobieralski, J. B. 2020. “COVID-19 and airline employment: Insights from historical uncertainty shocks to the industry.” Transp. Res. Interdiscip. Perspect. 5: 100123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100123.
Suau-Sanchez, P., A. Voltes-Dorta, and N. Cugueró-Escofet. 2020. “An early assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on air transport: Just another crisis or the end of aviation as we know it?” J. Transp. Geogr. 86: 102749. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2020.102749.
Teixeira, J. F., and M. Lopes. 2020. “The link between bike sharing and subway use during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case-study of New York’s Citi Bike.” Transp. Res. Interdiscip. Perspect. 6: 100166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100166.
Tirachini, A., and O. Cats. 2020. “COVID-19 and public transportation: Current assessment, prospects, and research needs.” J. Public Transp. 22 (1): 34p. https://doi.org/10.5038/2375-0901.22.1.1.
USDOT. 2016. Traffic monitoring guide. Washington, DC: USDOT.
Walpole, R. E., R. H. Myers, S. L. Myers, and K. Ye. 2006. Probability and statistics for engineers and scientists. London: Pearson.
Zhang, Y., A. Zhang, and J. Wang. 2020. “Exploring the roles of high-speed train, air and coach services in the spread of COVID-19 in China.” Transp. Policy 94: 34–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2020.05.012.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 150 • Issue 5 • May 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 31, 2021
Accepted: Dec 5, 2023
Published online: Feb 23, 2024
Published in print: May 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jul 23, 2024
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.