CalTrans, the department of transportation of California, was supposed to initiate the construction work of a highway project in mid-July. The project included the repairing and repaving of 101 Freeway that connects San Francisco with the mainland. The project was completed by the department in April due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is not a usual thing to complete a project before it was originally expected to begin.
Bart Ney, a spokesman of CalTrans, said, βIn the Bay Area, it was one of our busier years.β The coronavirus lockdown was a big reason behind the completion of the project months ahead of schedule. The department had to reduce the traffic by 30% to start working on that project. Due to the pandemic, the traffic reduction was brought to 40% amid the stay-at-home order.
A similar thing happened in Colorado where a project related to the addition of an express lane was able to accelerate a month. Presley Fowler, the spokeswoman of the Colorado Department of Traffic, said that COVID-19 brought traffic down to 50%. The Federal Highway Administration told the media in April that the US citizens drove 40% fewer miles as compared to the same time in 2019.
The highway projects in Nevada, Florida, Wisconsin, Virginia, Arizona, and Texas started ahead of schedule due to the traffic reduction occurred amid COVID-19. However, some states applied brakes on the highway projects due to the lack of funding. They suffered from huge losses in terms of gas tax revenue.
Road work was not included in the CARES Act. Congress is working on the passage of a transportation bill. However, the bill is still not passed. With the reopening of economies, the traffic volume has increased substantially up to 80% of its pre-COVID-19 levels. It will help the states to gather gas tax revenue to cover up their losses. Some states said that they were short billions of dollars in funding.
Some of President Biden's strongest Senate allies are calling on Israelis to end months of fierce fighting and criticizing the…
Ukraine's KYIV β At least four people were killed and nearly 100 injured when Russian hypersonic ballistic missiles attacked Ukraine's…
The economy is making Americans feel a little more upbeat, especially when it comes to jobs and incomes, which could…
The discovery of a decaying body inside a college ventilation system marked the tragic and unexplained end to a missing…
Following the shooting deaths of three 20-year-old Palestinian-American students in Vermont, authorities have detained a man. According to a news…
The United States ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, urged Chinese authorities "to abandon COVID deception" and demanded that China be…
This website uses cookies.