What will traffic and pollution look like post-coronavirus?

Three possible scenarios for our roads after the pandemic

Cars drive into the sunset.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Canetti/iStock, FreeSoulProduction/IStock)

The coronavirus pandemic has utterly upended the U.S. economy. In many cases, what seemed unthinkable a few weeks ago is now the new normal. But eventually the pandemic will end, the economy will reopen, and the new normal will move back towards something at least akin to the old normal. But just how much will it move? A little? A lot?

Take something like traffic: The number of cars on American roads, especially in major cities, has fallen like a rock. A recent study found traffic volume on California roadways dropped 60 percent thanks to the coronavirus lockdowns. Nor is "traffic" just about traffic: It's about how much Americans work from home; how much they use mass transit; how much they rely on online delivering services, from Amazon to Instacart; and how much we pollute, to name just a few examples.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.