Remember Traffic?

Traffic in the before times. Photo by B137 / Wikimedia Commons

Audio By Carbonatix

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It's Monday midmorning, which means by now you've walked the dog, had your first and second cups of coffee, and made it through a nightmarish commute from your bed to the sofa. Remember when the worst part of a Monday morning was being blasted by radio ads for Mike Bloomberg's presidential campaign? Remember how angry you'd get as you changed the station in the middle of a traffic jam? Remember traffic?

Since Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez issued a stay-at-home order last week, snarled traffic is a thing of the past. Here's a photo of all the cars on Interstate 95 near Wynwood this morning via a WeatherBug webcam:

click to enlarge

Screenshot via WeatherBug

This stretch, of course, is traveled by an average of 325,000 vehicles per day during normal times. And the lack of traffic has been a pattern on most of Miami's roadways:

A rare sight: #RushHour #Traffic this #morning in #Miami #Florida during the #coronavirus #COVID19 #lockdown from https://t.co/r5sdnIF2sO @GovRonDeSantis pic.twitter.com/wHRDEdyOhL

— PTZtv (@PTZtv) March 23, 2020

This is Biscayne Boulevard in Downtown #Miami at 412PM on a late-March Wednesday — normally characterized by some of the most intense traffic I’ve seen. This image pretty surreal. pic.twitter.com/WebLMN4Ui3

— Ariel Cohen (@BuckeyeTSTM) March 25, 2020

Cars Per Minute: 19

— Auston Bunsen (@bunsen) March 26, 2020

Miami rush hour in the new normal. Never thought I would be so saddened by a short commute..... pic.twitter.com/OLdhJDOGCp

— Stephen K. Talpins (@StephenTalpins) March 27, 2020

Under Gimenez's order, Miami-Dade residents have been asked to stay home except to buy groceries, pick up prescriptions, and take care of other essential business. Though the order "urges" rather than requires people to remain home, the lack of cars on the road indicates most locals are taking the directive seriously.

Most Miamians have probably dreamed of the day when driving from Kendall to downtown would take but 20 minutes. We just didn't think it would happen like this.