Two years ago,before the coronavirus pandemic,the traffic volume at the same spot was 2797 vehicles with an average speed of 15km/h.
On the Monash Freeway inbound between Warrigal Road and High Street on Monday,the traffic volume was 5432 vehicles with an average speed of 66km/h.
Two years ago,the traffic volume was 6160 vehicles with an average speed of 42km/h.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said the data showed noticeable changes in how Melburnians were using the road network as the pandemic evolved.
“Traffic volumes outside of lockdown periods have remained closer to pre-COVID levels on the arterial road network,but we are now seeing volumes return nearer to pre-COVID levels across Melbourne’s freeways” she said.
Majid Sarvi,Professor of Transport for Smart Cities at the University of Melbourne,said fewer people were working in the city and moving around. When they did go into the CBD,they were avoiding public transport.
“They’re driving,so you see a lot of congestion on roads,” he said. “Basically,it’s going to get worse if people keep using cars and private transport instead of public transport.”
Professor Sarvi said many people appeared to be reluctant to catch a train,tram or bus because of the pandemic and needed encouragement to return to public transport or to cycling or walking.
“It’s not just in Melbourne,” he said. “It’s a phenomenon everywhere of people who are avoiding public transport.”
Thursday morning’s congestion on the West Gate Freeway,during peak hour,was caused by the road being down to one lane inbound from Williamstown Road.
At a press conference on Thursday morning Mr Andrews apologised for the delays which he said were due to construction work.
“We do a lot of work overnight and the team’s worked as hard as they can to clear all that up for the morning and[there were] some things that went wrong overnight and that didn’t happen,” he said.
Major Transport Infrastructure Authority director-general Corey Hannett said the delays were the result of a “safety dispute” overnight on the construction site.
CFMEU safety officers arrived at the site on Thursday morning and removed cranes because of safety concerns. A spokesperson for the union said in a statement that the project had put workers and public safety at risk,and the union would never compromise on public safety. “This project has already taken one life and that is one too many,” they said.
Data from HERE Analytics which use in-car GPS data to track travel times on the West Gate over the past couple of days showed travel times blew out with commuters between Grieve Parade and Power Street spending an extra 18 minutes in their cars on Wednesday between 9am and 1pm and an extra 56 minutes on Thursday.
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