Traffic Worse Than Before Pandemic Started For Some Massachusetts Drivers
BOSTON (CBS) - If you feel like you are hitting heavy traffic at different places and times more often than you are used to, you're not alone.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation said pre-pandemic traffic levels are back, and in some cases, worse than before.
MassDOT said travel times along I-93 are seeing some of the biggest spikes compared to this time in 2019, before the pandemic.
They report a 20% increase in travel time for morning commuters heading north, and a 30% increase for drivers heading south during the afternoon rush.
On the flip side, overall drive times on I-90 are down as much as 24%.
"There was no traffic a year ago," said Terry Hastings of Worcester. "I have to leave my house a quarter of six in the morning in order to make it into Boston by 7."
On Thursday, commuters said they are starting to experience similar traffic troubles to those before the pandemic.
"If you are not out of the city by 2 o'clock, you are just going to get stuck," said Tim Shagnon of Waltham.
"Now that everyone is back to work, it seems like the roads are pretty full," said Heather Strobel. "Honestly, a lot of bad drivers. A lot of bad drivers. They don't know how to merge; they don't know how to yield. It's bad driving."
MassDOT said data suggests tradition rush hours are a thing of the past. Recently, congestion has been spread out over a longer period of time, making drive times inconsistent.
"People are traveling at different times," said MassDOT Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver. "You are seeing more of these midday trips, which seems to indicate people have adjusted their schedule. If they do need to go into the office, they are not doing it for a full 8 hours. They are coming in for 2-4 hours, middle of the day, to skip the commute."
MassDOT said they track commuter data to help them plan when to do construction projects, as well as inform drivers of overall trends.