Highway Hot Spots & Volumes Tracker

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a statewide stay home order was issued in March 2020 to protect the health and well-being of Californians. Since then, daily travel on San Diego regional highways has been drastically reduced. SANDAG has analyzed weekday and weekend travel patterns on a monthly basis beginning in January 2020 and has compared them with the same time periods in 2019. As the region reopens, observed traffic on our highways has reverted toward the mean. SANDAG continues to monitor how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting regional travel, as well as how economic activity and how telecommuting will factor into the region’s long-term planning efforts.

Metrics and indicators of highway activity:

• Change in Weekday Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT)
• Average Daily Traffic Volumes (ADT) at Highway Hot Spots
• Average Speed (MPH) at Highway Hot Spots
• Hot Spots are data collection points where congestion occurs regularly
• Monthly data per hotspot (ADT & Speed) must reach a 70% observation rate for two thirds of the weekdays during a given month to be included in the monthly analysis

Methodology

• Vehicle Miles Traveled (Weekdays): 2019, 2020, and 2021 VMT counts are monthly totals for each corridor. VMT is calculated to include both directions for each chosen corridor. Counts reflect monthly weekday totals. Counts do not include weekends, but do include holidays which fall on weekdays.
• Vehicle Miles Traveled (Weekends): VMT counts are monthly totals for each corridor. 2019 is the base year for all comparisons. Counts reflect monthly weekend totals. Counts do not include weekdays. Counts do include holidays which fall on weekends.
• Average Daily Traffic Volumes: 2019, 2020, and 2021 ADT counts are monthly totals for each corridor. Counts reflect monthly weekday totals. Counts do not include weekends, but do include holidays that fall on weekdays.
• Speed: Peak Period is defined as 6:00 - 8:59 a.m. across all locations. Averages are calculated by taking the mean of the 6:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m., and 8:00 a.m. hours average speeds. Averages reflect weekdays aggregated over the period of each calendar month. Counts do not include weekends, but do include holidays that fall on weekdays.

Data Collection

Highway hot spot direction:

• I-15 at Deer Springs: South
• I-5 at Sea World: South
• I-5 at E Street: North
• I-5 at Manchester: South
• I-8 at Waring: West
• I-805 at I-15: North
• I-805 at I-8: North
• I-805 at Governor: North
• SR 52 at Mast: West
• SR 78 at Barham: East
• I-805 at E Street: North
• SR 905 at I-805: East

GIS Data Download

• Vehicle Miles Traveled
• Average Daily Traffic Volumes & Speed

Data Disclaimer: SANDAG data disclaimer

Data Source: Performance Measurement System (PeMS), Caltrans

For more information, call (619) 699-1950 or email pio@sandag.org

The Highway Hot Spots & Volumes Tracker offers multiple ways to interact with and explore the data. Data is visualized using two types of figures: line charts and bar graphs. The line charts offer the advantage of viewing the trends for each highway across time, while the bar charts display regional averages.

Filter Data
You can filter data to focus on points of interest with sliders and interactive legends on the graph.

Map Interaction
Selecting a single data point or multiple points in the chart will display further information.

Additional Map Functionality
Using the map you can search for a location, change the basemap, and view the legend.

Filter Data (top)

Map Interaction (top)

Additional Map Functionality (top)