Traffic is still way down, but with gradual openings, is showing signs of revival

People are flocking to Tampa. But from where?

It’s no surprise that vehicular traffic has been down for weeks since the novel coronavirus forced restrictions on public interactions across the state, but traffic is beginning to tick back up in all of the state’s metro areas.

Using data from internet and GPS-enabled devices like cell phones, the Tampa Bay Partnership compiled a report exploring how social distancing trends and restrictions are impacting traffic.

Data showed a sharp decline in vehicular miles driven beginning at about March 17 and plummeting until about March 27 when traffic bottomed out.

Travel remained flat through April 24, the final date for which data was analyzed, but began showing a slight increase around April 16.

As parks and some businesses begin opening on a limited basis Monday, those increases may accelerate.

Already, data shows differences in travel based on destination.

In Hillsborough County, where parks have been closed, travel to those facilities was down 57% compared to baseline data prior to mass closures. In neighboring Pinellas County where parks remained open, travel to those amenities was down just 35%.

Both counties showed less steep drops in travel to grocery stores and pharmacies with 19% and 18%, respectively.

Meanwhile travel to individual residences was up 16% in Hillsborough and 15% in Pinellas County.

Travel data also shows retail and recreation, workplace and transit destinations also down. Trips to retail and recreation destinations were down 49% in both Hillsborough and Pinellas, workplace trips were down 41% in Hillsborough and 39% in Pinellas while transit trips plummeted 71% in Hillsborough, but just 42% in Pinellas.

The decline in workplace trips dropped sharply in March, but has since leveled out, indicating job losses might have reached their bottoms in the region.

The analysis is part of an ongoing partnership between the Tampa Bay Partnership, the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, United Way Suncoast and the University of South Florida Muma College of Business in a series of “State of the Region: COVID-19 Community Reports.”