(Radio Iowa) – Traffic was down on the state roadways in the last month of 2022. The D-O-T’s Stuart Anderson tracks the numbers. “Overall our traffic in December was down seven percent compared to our pre-pandemic December and it was down across all systems,” Anderson says. Recent lower traffic volumes have been attributed to higher gas prices — but he says this time it looks like winter is to blame.

“We do attribute that to the severe weather we had the end of December and the impact on travel on our public roadways.” he says. “And that is reflected that we do have preliminary January numbers which are showing traffic is now four above the pre-pandemic January — so we do think that is just a blip due to winter weather.” Anderson made his comments during the recent Iowa Transportation Commission meeting.