LAKELAND, Fla. – If traffic seems busier in Lakeland these days, it is.

New numbers from StreetLight Data show that Lakeland is seeing one of the biggest increases in daily vehicle miles traveled since 2019.

Drivers are now traveling an average of 37% more miles a day than before the pandemic.

That’s enough to be the fifth most in the entire country.

City leaders aren’t surprised.

“The increase in traffic from the report makes sense to me because we’re seeing unprecedented growth in Lakeland,” said Tess Schwartz, the city’s traffic operations manager.

Schwartz says that it’s not just overall growth that leads to more traffic. It’s the type of growth determines the impact.

“One of the concerns that I have is that with the sprawl type development patterns that we’re seeing, people have to drive everywhere they go," Shwartz said. “We don’t have a robust transit system here in Polk County. It’s very limited.”

Planning and transportation manager Chuck Barmby says the city is planning projects to help deal with congestion.

However, he says it’s more complicated than just adding lanes.

“We’re developing pathway system and a transit system that will serve the future population growth,” Barmby said. “There’s still a lot of funding challenges and challenges to get the system to where it needs to be today.”

Future solutions potentially include more transit, like the SunRail being extended from Orlando to Lakeland.

“We don’t have commuter rail. And our bus services are very limited. And that’s something that’s a concern to me,” Schwartz said.

One solution city leaders like is to have more mixed use development, like Prospect Lake Wire in downtown.

“It is an apartment that includes retail. So this is an example of the type of development that will hopefully give people other travel options than just getting in their car,” Barmby said.