Dashboard provides monthly data trends to show effects of COVID-19
OLYMPIA – Multimodal mobility analysis by the Washington State Department of Transportation has moved into the fast lane and shifted from being a print publication to a fully interactive, online dashboard.
WSDOT’s recently released Multimodal Mobility Dashboard delivers annual performance data and five-year trends for numerous travel modes on a variety of state-owned facilities. Improving on last year’s interactive version, this MMD highlights the monthly travel changes experienced during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic year compared to 2019 and 2018.
Along with regional highway travel information, the dashboard format provides quick access to areas ranging from public transportation to WSDOT’s Incident Response program while providing in-depth analysis of multimodal freight mobility, Amtrak Cascades, Washington State Ferries, walking and biking, and from airports statewide. Highlights from the MMD include:
- COVID-19 affected all modes of transportation as teleworking increased and physical distancing, which affected carpools and mass transit, became the norm.
- The Governor's "Stay Home, Stay Healthy" emergency order in March 2020 encouraged safety while limiting non-essential business and travel. The statewide response in March 2020 resulted in significant changes to commute times, delay, congestion and vehicle throughput. While travel started to increase by late June 2020 it was still far lower than in 2019.
- In 2020, 30 billion vehicle miles were traveled on state highways, 15% less than the 35.4 billion traveled in 2019.
- In 2020, Washington public transportation users took 110 million trips, 54% less than the 239.9 million trips in 2019.
- In 2020, Washington State Ferries carried 14.0 million riders, 41% less than the 24.3 million riders in 2019.
- In 2020, Amtrak Cascades trains carried 1,400 bicycles, 80% less than the 7,100 bicycles transported in 2019.
The MMD currently shows data through 2020, but 2021 data will be factored into the next edition, scheduled to launch in fall 2022.
To learn more about WSDOT’s Multimodal Mobility Dashboard, visit WSDOT’s Accountability website.