Development of the Road Network in the City of Salt in 2004 and 2016 Using GIS

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Development of the Road Network in the City of Salt in 2004 and 2016 Using GIS Modern Applied Science; Vol. 13, No. 10; 2019 ISSN 1913-1844 E-ISSN 1913-1852 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education Development of the Road Network in the City of Salt in 2004 and 2016 Using GIS Dr. Deaa Al-Deen Amjad Qtaishat1, Dr. Abd Al Azez Hdoush2 & Eng. Loiy Qasim Alzu’Bi3 1Faculty member at the Arab University College of Technology, Amman, Jordan 2 Lecturer, Jordan University, Jordan 3 Lecturer, Jerash University, Jordan Correspondence: Dr. Deaa Al-Deen Amjad Qtaishat, Faculty member at the Arab University College of Technology, Amman, Jordan. E-mail: [email protected] Received: August 20, 2019 Accepted: September 18, 2019 Online Published: September 19, 2019 doi:10.5539/mas.v13n10p94 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/mas.v13n10p94 Abstract The aim of this study is to analyze the structure of the road network in As-Salt City in the period between 2004 and 2016, in order to identify the road employability in terms of the degree of connectivity, rotation, accessibility, and density. The relationship between the social properties and road distribution are also examined through analysis of the network characteristics concerning population distribution. The data used in this study was based on the As-Salt City Municipality Database supported with fieldwork done in 2016. The network analysis approach using GIS was used to calculate the roads employability. The study compares between the results of the analysis using the cognitive model of the road network for the years 2004 and 2016, knowing that the number of nodes in 2004 and 2016 was constant indicating the number of neighborhoods is 20, while the number of links changed from 42 links in 2004 to 50 links in 2016 and the average center of roads was determined, and it was estimated that the average road center is located near the municipality of As-Salt The study indicates that the road network suffers from a low degree of communication and rotation and the standard distance of road sites in the study area. The standard distance for each group was 2338.49 m. There is a disparity in the distribution of road network within As-Salt City, and the proportion of roads lengths dose not suit the population distribution pattern. The neighborhood of Al- Salalem, includes 19.5% of the total number of roads in As-Salt, because the neighborhood of Al-Salalem contains the highest population census and this is accompanied by urban growth, which is necessarily accompanied by the presence of roads. Therefore, it is recommended to have a plan to redistribute the population in the city and to establish new roads to reduce the problems of traffic in the city. Keywords: rotation, road network, GIS, Jordan 1. Introduction Residents benefit from a good transport system because they have easy access to their destinations and to all areas of the city they want to reach. People can easily navigate shopping, entertainment and visits, moving from residential areas to workplaces to shorten distances and time to move. Allocation of high percentages of investment development plans for the transport sector. The transport sector plays an important role in the planning process in general, because it facilitates movement from one place to the other. The quality of roads should be taken into account and congestion areas that obstruct traffic should be taken into consideration. (Al-Tarazi, 2003) Transportation is one of the most important human activities that is closely related to the place. It is reflected in different ways in our lifestyle. Also, human movements are composed of mutual relation between the road network as a place and humans as a user (Nawayseh, 2016). Road network is part of the transportation system which stimulates traffic demand because it is considered as a type of land use (Asadi, 2016), on the other hand, it plays a role in the distribution of land use (Tongfei, 2015), which is confirmed by (Zhong, 2016). Road network is one of the infrastructure services which is an increasing 94 mas.ccsenet.org Modern Applied Science Vol. 13, No. 10; 2019 interest to the local municipality because it is important in the development and sustainability of the economic and social quality of life (Shabat, 2011). Transportation had received an enormous development in the world during the last century, and Jordan was not far from this development. Since the founding of the Jordanian state in 1921, this sector has been given a lot of attention to developing the transport system. Accordingly, a new department was established called the "Ministry of Public Works and Housing” which took it upon themselves to set up a sophisticated network of roads connecting the parts of the Kingdom to each other (Siam, 1993). In 1988, the housing department and the ministry of public works were linked together and became the ministry of public works and housing, in 2001 the Public Transport Authority was established. Sincethe development of the Transport sector, a lot of problems have been arising due to high population growth, poor planning of cities, and lack of a cohesive transport system. This situation has been reflected also on As-Salt City in Al-Balqa district. The urban expansion, high population growth, and mountains nature of the city has worsened the problem, and therefore, there was a need to expand the city boundaries many times by the Municipality to solve the transport problems. Accordingly, new administrative boundaries were added to the municipalities such as Al- Saru, Um Zaitona, Batna, and Kafur Hudo. The recent indications show that the AsSalt city is suffering from high traffic density and weakness of road networks, also there is a weakness in transportation links between the city center and the city intersections. Therefore, traffic problems became a serious issue in the city, which affect directly the viability of the transportation system and increase the costs of transport for goods and people. The objective of this study is to analyze the structure of the road network in As-Salt City, in order to identify the reality of the road network in terms of the degree of connectivity, rotation, accessibility, density, and topography. 2. Literature Review Alloush (2012) discussed the main causes of accidents and traffic jams, and found solutions in order to reduce accidents and their social effects. The study showed the pattern of roads, accidents and weather conditions in the city of Hilla in three main axes. It presented many suggestions, the most important was to establish asset of modern methods and specifications to serve the increasing number of cars and to maintain the old roads and repair the damages frequently to avoid huge damages caused by a long period. Al-Jabere (2010) explained the transportation as a geographic issue which is one of the branches of economic geography. It aims to study the current situation of transportation in Jenin governorate in terms of roads, traffic volume and the factors affecting it, and to find solutions for the traffic problems. The most important result was the increasing value of the road turning point because of the nature and topography of the area, and it discussed the effect of the barrier on roads and traffic. The most important recommendations were encouraging people to use public transportation in order to reduce environmental impact and traffic jam, especially during peak hours. Taran (2015) study the spatial analysis of the road network in Mafraq government using GIS in analyzing the road network. Specifying the network functionality in linking the center of the government on one hand and its urban and service centers on the other. The study evaluates the efficiency of the road network in the governorate by measuring its distribution and continuity. It found that the road network characterized by a low degree of continuity links where the rate of the relation is less than 42%, and the alpha index didn’t exceed 11%. Al-Masri (2009) Analyzed the road network in Damascus, its service efficiency and productivity to determine the impact of geographical factors in the development and the extension of the road network using the historical, descriptive, statically and cartographic approaches. Many study and analyze natural, human and economic factors affecting the extension of the road network, the climate is the most important impact factors did not impact mainly on the work of transportation in Damascus. The urban structure in old Damascus and in random neighborhoods prevented the extension of the road network and the use of modern transportation. Most of traffic jam cases occurred at the intersections, several recommendations were reached such as making traffic in the main road permanently functional by establishing two levels of traffic at some intersections which allow the continuity of traffic and reduction of traffic jams. The periodic maintenance of pedestrian sidewalk resolve some problems related to it. Sarker (2013) study the composition of the network in the Kuchbihar city, which is located west of Bengal in India. The objective of the study is to provide an overview of the current road network and to determine the status and spatial variation of roads network development. The study area suffers from low efficiency of the road network which effects the movement of people and goods. Xie and Yetal (2016) analyze the spatial and temporal changes in the city within the major road intersections to compare the relationship between city growth in arid regions in China. The results showed that the main roads 95 mas.ccsenet.org Modern Applied Science Vol. 13, No. 10; 2019 encouraged the expansion of the city especially for the construction of green land areas. The methodology of the study captures images and process them using software’s, by collecting sufficient samples and correcting them in geographical scales, then testing them through surveys including ground control points using GPS and comparing them with the original images.
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