Design of Alternate Routes for Traffic Management in Peshawar
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Design of Alternate Routes for Traffic Management in Peshawar Muhammad Kamal, Muhammad Noman Department of Civil Engineering, Cecos University, Peshawar, Pakistan International Journal of Research in Civil Engineering, Architecture & Design Volume 3, Issue 1, January-March, 2015, pp. 31-40 ISSN Online:2347-2855, Print:2347-8284, DOA : 14032015 © IASTER 2014, www.iaster.com ABSTRACT The last few years has witnessed a dramatic increase in vehicular traffic on the roads in Peshawar. The traffic condition in Peshawar is in chaos and in its disturbed form mainly due to the ribbon development of Peshawar, inadequate road infrastructure, inefficient road networking, and security concerns. The current road network is unable to cop up with the massive amount of traffic coming through and at some points the traffic condition is even worse. The purpose of this research is thus to design alternate routes for the traffic management in Peshawar which are designed in Eagle point software. After the design procedure, the performances of the roads are analysed in 3D generating software Anadelta. Estimation of the designed routes is also carried out and found that the alternate routes are much economical and beneficial than widening and improving the existing road conditions. Modern software techniques are used to properly design these routes. This methodology tends to reduce the traffic density at high density locations and proper management will be done. Keywords: Traffic Management; Alternate Routes; Eagle Point; Anadelta; Road Estimation; Peshawar; Pakistan. 1. INTRODUCTION Traffic management is the planning monitoring and control or influence of Traffic. The purpose of traffic management is to maximize the effectiveness of the use of existing infrastructure, ensure reliable and safe operation of the transport addresses environmental goals and ensure fair allocation of infrastructure space. Traffic management is specially a concern in developing countries where there are less resources to cop up with the problem and hence the problem is increasing and need proper planning on a large scale to minimize the problem. Traffic congestion also leads to fatalities and according to World Health Organization, Traffic fatalities will be the 6th main cause of deaths and especially in developing countries, it will be 2nd most leading cause of disability [1]. Apart from the deaths, Traffic mismanagement also leads to more fuel consumptions and hence wastes of mineral resources. According to a study, it is estimated that about 2300 million Gallons of fuel is wasted per year and according to Texas Transportation Institute, Traffic delays cost USA around US$ 63.1 Billion per year [2]. The term limited resources in case of traffic management means less capital to invest, less land available to be used in traffic management, less technology and experience etc. Peshawar is the capital city of the North-West Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is a populous city of about 1,219,248 people. Traffic management problem in Peshawar is at its peak due to its Ribbon development, historic and unplanned nature. The main G.T road is like a backbone to the traffic in Peshawar. All of the traffic in Peshawar must pass through G.T road at some point. This is obvious due to the facts that all the important buildings, educational institutes, offices, universities; 31 International Journal of Research in Civil Engineering, Architecture & Design (O) 2347-2855 ISSN Volume-3, Issue-1, January-March, 2015, www.iaster.com (P) 2347-8284 commercial areas are situated on this road. Besides this, G.T road is also used as a trade corridor between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The congestion alongside the road and the decrease in its capacity has forced the traffic condition into chaos Fig. 1. Traffic management can be done through different methods and techniques that depend on the cost, area, technology. The capacity of the traffic can be managed through widening of the roads, construction of service roads, underpasses, flyovers and formation of alternate routes. Keeping in view the geographical characteristics, availability of land, ribbon development and existing conditions of roads in Peshawar, selection of alternate routes is the most feasible one. The entry to Peshawar from other parts is through three main points which are from motorway, from Charsadda road, from Kohat road. These places are always flooded with vehicles and are very important locations in the managing of the traffic. The point where motorway connects with the Ring road , GT road, Gulbahar, Hashtnagri, Suri pul, Charsadda road, Ring road intersection with Charsadda road , Chungy intersection, Tahkal, University Town and Board are the places with extreme traffic Fig. 2. If the overall traffic flow in these areas can be improved the traffic in the whole area will be improved. There is absence of any link road between these main roads. Therefore, the formation of new link roads is inevitable and thus two new alternate routes are proposed in order to organize the traffic flow in the above mentioned areas economically. Figure 1: A View of Traffic Mismanagement in University Road, Peshawar Figure 2: Map of Peshawar Indicating the Different High Density Vehicle Areas 32 International Journal of Research in Civil Engineering, Architecture & Design (O) 2347-2855 ISSN Volume-3, Issue-1, January-March, 2015, www.iaster.com (P) 2347-8284 2. CURRENT TRAFFIC AND ROAD NETWORK CONDITION IN PESHAWAR An overview on the existing traffic and road conditions shows that the situation is in its worst form in Peshawar. The absence of proper planning, Adhocism, increased number of private vehicles, Non expansion of road network, absence of new routes has made the situation even more badly. To find the exact data about traffic in Peshawar, Information was obtained from Traffic department, Peshawar development authority, Highway department, communication and works department, Excise and registration department and it was found out that Peshawar witnessed increase in number of vehicles to about 126.4% but the total expansion in road networks is a mere 0.85% [3]. From 1971-1972 to 1984-1985, the passenger and goods traffic carried by rail and road transport increased by 156 percent and 255 percent respectively [4]. Facts and figures from the Excise & Taxation department Peshawar shows that there has been an immense and drastic increase in the number of vehicles in Peshawar shown in Fig. 3. These include vehicles registered and unregistered and also vehicles coming from other parts of the country. On road vehicles in Peshawar 160000 140000 120000 100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Figure 3: On Road Vehicles in Peshawar (Bureau of Statics, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) More ever information gathered from road inventory record shows that there has been no increase in the roads length or width to accommodate such increase in the traffic. Fig. 4 shows the road inventory record from 1998 to 2012. Figure 4: Road Inventory Record of Peshawar 1998-2012 (Source: Communication and Works Department Peshawar) 33 International Journal of Research in Civil Engineering, Architecture & Design (O) 2347-2855 ISSN Volume-3, Issue-1, January-March, 2015, www.iaster.com (P) 2347-8284 Information taken from Excise and taxation department and C&W department shows that during the past years there are no such major development in road networking whereas the amount of vehicular traffic has increased enormously as mentioned that the number of vehicles increased to 124.6% while the just a mere 0.85% increase was witnessed in the road network. Fig. 5 shows the data collected from various departments showing the increase in the number of vehicles and that of road network. 70000 63500 60000 47800 50000 40000 35400 30000 20449 18605 17070 20000 12810 9764 10000 2233458.32369458.33364458.3 462.17 462.17 462.17 462.17 462.17 485.6 485.6 485.6 0 vehicles (Reg) Roads (km) Figure 5: Increase in Vehicles Compared to Increase in Road Network (Source C&W and Excise and Taxation Office Peshawar) All these facts and figures show that there is a dire need of proper road networking planning and formation of new roads is inevitable to accommodate and manage the traffic chaos in Peshawar. Therefore, two new routes are proposed that will produce a very positive impact on the overall traffic condition in Peshawar. 3. ROAD NO. 1: MOTORWAY TO HAYATABAD THROUGH WARSAK ROAD AND CHARSADDA ROAD This route will originate from the motorway and will move towards the Charsadda road. After crossing that it will pass through warsak road and finally towards Board regilalma passing behind Peshawar university area Fig. 6. This route will thus touch all the major roads and will facilitate the vehicles from all those roads to divert to the areas of their choices giving them a lot of options. This route will enable the motorists with a variety of options. The vehicles coming from Charsadda road can turn towards Warsak road without having to pass from Bacha khan chowk and Suri pul and Chungy chowk. Also they can turn towards motorway without having to pass through the busy Hashtnagri and Gulbahar chowk. The motorists coming from Charsadda road can also go to Peshawar University or Board or Hayatabad without having to pass through Tahkal, University town, etc. The motorists coming through motorway may directly take this route and reach Warsak road and Hayatabad without having to pass through points like Gulbahar , Hashtnagri, Chungy, Tahkal , Town etc. [5]. The vehicles on warsak road can take advantage of the route because reaching to Hayatabad areas will now be easy as they will avoid the above mentioned points as well as they can take a shortcut to Charsadda road and motorway. The vehicles from Hayatabad, Karkhano, may use this route to reach Warsak road as there are a lot of high standard schools on warsak road so they may take this route and the problem of traffic on Warsak road in school days will be solved to great extent.