A region once brought to a standstill by two inches of snow is now almost completely free of traffic congestion.
"The Georgia Department of Transportation reports a dramatic reduction in traffic Tuesday vs. a typical weekday on many of the region’s major highways," reports David Wickert. "Depending on the corridor, volumes were down as much as 50 percent compared to a typical weekday."
Traffic volumes being down means traffic speeds are also up. The average speed on the Downtown Connector on the same day was 60 mph, according to Wickert.
With one exception, congestion has disappeared from the region's highways: traffic on I-85 south in Gwinnett County was higher than normal on Tuesday, but officials couldn't explain why.
The effect of the coronavirus stands in stark contrast to the infamous "Snowmageddon" event of January 2014, when two inches of snow brought the region to a standstill, inspiring numerous commentaries about the role of sprawl and auto-dependency in the mess that followed.
Read the full story: Coronavirus: Traffic down as much as 50% on metro Atlanta highways
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