TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORT

  The covid 19 pandemics has proved that the traffic and transport has been heavily affected.

Transport and mobility of passengers are some of the most vulnerable aspects of the COVID-19 period. In particular, declines in commercial flight operation, demands of urban transport, public transport usage, and generally passenger transport, were the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 period on transportation. Also, freightage transit has been affected. On the other hand, these events have led to positive effects on the environment because of less energy demand in the transportation sector. Air traffic and public transport demand declined 90% and 80%, respectively, in Europe, and Road traffic fell down by 73% in the UK. Even remote working has had positive effects on the environment by reducing transport emissions. Working from home less traffic pollution and commuting without harming the economy.

Travel and economic activities have been drastically reduced because of lockdown measures worldwide, leading to a significant decrease in traffic congestion in major cities. For example, about a 50% decrease in peak traffic congestion was observed in US cities such as New York and Los Angeles. The correlative reduction in pollutants like carbon monoxide (CO) and NO2 is the main result of this decrease in traffic  The average level of CO in New York City has dropped by 50% compared to the previous year the same period, and similarly, in Madrid, a 75% decrease in the average level of NO2 was reported in March 2020. Recently, by studying the change in air quality and the potentially avoided cause-specific mortality during the lockdown in China, researchers have shown the health benefits of air quality enhancement due to the decrease in NO2 and fine particulate matter (PM) from traffic. Regardless of having tremendous economic and social impacts, lockdowns have also some benefits in decreasing road crash deaths and disabling injuries by reducing travel.