The nation’s capital saw a 77 percent decrease in its traffic congestion last year compared to 2019, a new report revealed.
The fall in DC’s traffic recorded in 2020 is the biggest among all major American cities, including New York and Boston.
The 2020 Global Traffic Scorecard was conducted by INRIX, a Kirkland-based company that provides location-based data and analytics on traffic and parking to automakers, cities and road authorities.
DC residents lost an average of 29 hours to traffic in 2020, which is fewer than in previous years, while the nationwide average was recorded as 26 hours.
In 2019, people across the country spent 99 hours in traffic on average.
The most congested city in 2020 was New York City with 100 hours spent in traffic.
“The global pandemic, and related government shutdowns, had dramatic and varying impacts on how much people drove in 2020,” the report said.
“The lockdowns, in general, restricted business operations and consumer activity, leading to large decreases in travel across all modes, the likes of which has not been seen since vehicular, rail and air travel data has been collected.”
Teleworking policies, closures of brick-and-mortar businesses, and limits on gatherings stemming from the pandemic were among the key factors that affected vehicle traffic last year, according to the research.