In Pennsylvania, gas prices sped up much faster than traffic rebounded – By Anya Litvsak (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) / Mar 15 2021
Many things measured in 2020, with the notable exceptions of COVID-19 infections and Amazon deliveries, plunged like a giant check mark on a graph.
The travel-to-work dip happened quickly and dramatically in late March and early April, just after the pandemic shutdown orders. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the number of vehicle miles traveled in the U.S. dropped by 40% in April compared to the prior year.
Then the price of oil hit its historic bottom on April 20, when producers actually had to pay customers to take the slick stuff off their hands.
A week later, gasoline prices, as a result of both the travel dive and the oil prices, dipped to a national average of $1.77 per gallon.
