Impacts of COVID-19 Travel Restriction Policies on the Traffic Quality of the National and Provincial Trunk Highway Network: A Case Study of Shaanxi Province

According to recent research, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted road traffic quality. This study aims to analyze the impacts of COVID-19 travel restriction policies on the traffic quality of the national and provincial trunk highway network (NPTHN) in Shaanxi Province. We collected the traffic data of the NPTHN for three consecutive years (from 2019 to 2021), before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, including weekly average daily traffic, weekly traffic interruption times, weekly traffic control time, weekly traffic accidents, weekly traffic injuries, and weekly traffic deaths. Using descriptive statistics and dynamic analysis methods, we studied the safety and service levels of the NPTHN. We set up an assessment model of the NPTHN operational orderliness through dissipative structure theory and entropy theory to study the operational orderliness of the NPTHN. Results show that in 2020, the service level, safety level, and operational orderliness of the NPTHN dropped to the lowest levels. The pandemic was gradually brought under control, and the travel restriction policies were gradually reduced and lifted. The adverse impacts on the operational orderliness of the NPTHN decreased, but the operational orderliness did not yet recover to the pre-pandemic level. Meanwhile, the service and safety levels of the NPTHN did not recover. Taken together, the COVID-19 travel restriction policies had adverse impacts on the traffic quality of the NPTHN in Shaanxi Province.