United States Department of Transportation
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Abstract:The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected the nation’s transportation users and providers since February of 2020. Urgent questions arise: how will the pandemic affect the long-term future of transportation in the United States and how will the U.S. Department of Transportation and other public and private concerns craft their policies and investments in response?
Widespread public health effects, economic consequences and government responses to address the outbreak have already changed the population’s behavior and the transportation system. Uncertainty remains about how the future course of the disease and the prospects of subsequent waves or new viral pandemics will affect public and private behavior. In our highly-interconnected world, contagious diseases can spread quickly, and COVID-19 has done just that. Despite decades of global and national mobility that can speed the transmission of pandemics, there is no parallel to COVID-19. But, the population domestically and globally is larger, denser, more urban, older, and more mobile, factors that exacerbate disease transmission. The loss of life and the shut-down of much of the economy have shown people the risks of globalization and interdependency.
Transportation, for the most part, is an intermediate function, a means to an end. The rate of economic recovery will substantially affect the demand for all kinds of transportation. The year since the emergence of COVID-19 has shown significant effects on the transportation sector especially for modes that involve shared travel. In that time, individuals and businesses have adapted behaviors and altered practices to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.
This paper provides quantitative information about the effect of the crisis on different modes of transportation and discusses currently discernable critical issues.
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Content Notes:This paper discusses quantitative data on the effects of COVID-19 on transportation and the challenges it poses for the future of transportation. The paper is exploratory and intended to spur discussion. It is not purporting to be the policy positions of the administration.
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