Traffic this morning was a little worse than usual, but not horrible. More people were bicycling as well. It seems that having advance notice of the Metro shutdown helped many people adjust their plans.

Photo by Kyle Gradinger on Twitter used with permission.

Or, as Adam Lind put it, “Fear mongering = best form of TDM [Transportation Demand Management].” It’s true — remember how Pope Francis’ visit didn’t cause “traffic apocalypse”?

Not to say that roads were clear like during the pope’s visit. Ned Russell reports: “The 14th St Bridge and Mount Vernon Trail had more cyclists, especially inbound. My outbound commute was about the same. However, the GW Parkway northbound was backed up to Alexandria from the bridge.”

Mitch Wander: “Traffic on inbound Constitution coming off Roosevelt Bridge is at least three to four times normal at 0630. Yes, I’m on a bicycle.”

At 8:30, Gray Kimbrough wrote, “I’m sitting at 8th & Van Buren NW in Takoma (story: I got a flat tire last night picking up my daughter from daycare) with a view of Piney Branch. Traffic is much heavier than usual heading downtown here.”

Chris Slatt made a page where you can compare the typical traffic to today’s. Here’s the traffic at 8:30:

This is nothing compared to January’s midweek snowstorm, where poorly-forecasted snow caused massive backups in the evening commute.

Traffic congestion in the evening of January 20. Image by Brendan Casey from Google Maps.

Capital Bikeshare, not surprisingly, is seeing heavy use, with few bikes at neighborhood stations and many downtown. Rebalancing crews are working nonstop to try to move bikes outward. There are also three corrals in the downtown area to ensure riders can drop off bikes.

Does this mean we don’t actually need Metro? Some people are asking. But as Canaan Merchant noted, “Traffic in town was a bit heavier than usual but not gridlocked. I’ve seen worse. But there are very few people here in the office today. For anyone questioning why we “need” Metro after today, the answer is that maybe we don’t, except that it could mean a big hit to productivity and greater subsidy for other transit options.”

Empty parking lot at Grosvenor Metro. Photo by Svet Neov.

How was your commute?