MAPA releases 2022 Metro Area Traffic Reports

New traffic data from the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA) show that rural areas of Sarpy County and Douglas County where development is occurring experienced the greatest increase in traffic in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area from 2020 to 2022. 

MAPA’s 2022 Regional Traffic Patterns Report also shows traffic in the region increased 13.4% overall during the same period.

MAPA produces a biennial Regional Traffic Patterns Report, an analysis of regional and sub-regional traffic patterns, in conjunction with the Traffic Flow Map, the Top Intersection Report, and the Top Interchange Report. Find them at https://mapacog.org/reports/2022-metro-area-traffic-reports/.  

Data indicate traffic increased by 15% in Sarpy County, 13% in Douglas County and 13% in Pottawattamie and Mills Counties. Traffic in rural or exurban areas of Douglas and Sarpy Counties being developed increased between 23 to 28 percent.

All data is collected and measured by the changes in Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) and Vehicles Miles Traveled (VMT). 

From 2020 to 2022, VMT also increased by 10% in the urban core. 

“The urban core is a large employment center for the region and it is likely that a shift back to working in offices after the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to this increase,” said Owen Stuckey, MAPA GIS Coordinator. “While traffic increased overall in the region between 2020 to 2022, the growth is still less than the traffic growth in 2019 before the pandemic.”  

90th and Dodge Streets remains the busiest intersection in the metro area with 91,000 vehicles per day followed by the intersections of 120th and L Streets and 72nd and Dodge Streets.

The Interstate 680 and Interstate 80 interchange has overtaken the I-480/Kennedy Freeway and I-80 interchange as the busiest interchange with 231,000 vehicles per day. The interchanges of I-480/Kennedy Freeway and I-80 and 72nd Street and I-80 rank second and third respectively.

Traffic data for the Omaha-Council Bluffs region is located on MAPA’s Traffic Data Portal, 
www.mapacog/traffic.