LB 1 J)~''!H SURVEY OF CONDITIONS REGARDING TRAFFIC PROBLEMS IN KANDY METROPLITAN AREA This thesis was submitted to the department of Civil Engineering of the University of Moratuwa in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Engineering in Highways and Traffic Engineering. Supervised By: Dr. Amal Kumarage DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA QBi I AKuYA thesis Co\l K LA University of Moratuwa ® " Nf\A 77771 MARCH ~ 2003 7 77771 Comtemts Page 1 .0 Introduction 08 \ 2 .0 Present Situation 10 2.1 Road Network 12 2.2 Land use data 16 2.3 Population 18 3 .0 Methodology 19 4 .0 Data Collection 20 4.1 Traffic volume Survey 4.1.1 Classified counts (C C) 23 4.1.2 Classified Route Bus Counts (C B C) 23 f 4.2 O-D Survey ij 4.2.1 Data collected from Passengers vehicles 24 * 4.2.2 Data collected from Goods vehicles 24 4.2.3 Classified Route bus counts 25 5.0 Traffic Volume Survey 27 5.2 Summary of Traffic Volume data 32 5.2.1.Traffic Volumes on Main Roads 35 5.3 Peak hour traffic 37 5.4 Traffic composition 38 5.5 Traffic volume composition and its effect on road 39 5.6 Average daily traffic 42 5.7 Road capacity analysis 44 5.7.1 Service Flow on Roads 45 5.7.2 Level of Service of Road (L O S) 46 5.8 Passenger inflow to the city 47 5.8.1. Passenger inflow by buses 47 5.9 Origin destination survey 50 T > 5.9.1 Passenger Vehicles 50 5.9.2 Traffic to City Centre 61 5.9.3 Traffic through Kandy 63 5.9.4 All the Traffic Desires in Kandy 65 5.9.5 Places at origins and destinations of passenger vehicles 69 5.9.6 Types of commodity and occupancy of goods vehicles 70 6.0 Identification of Issues and Constraints 71 ^ 7.0 Conclusions 74 r r 8.0 Annexures FIGURES PAGE 2.1 Vicinity Map - Kandy 11 2.2 Road network 13 2.3 Kandy city 15 2.4 Kandy city boundary 17 4.1 Survey locations 22 5.1 Daily traffic flow towards Kandy at Lake Round 31 5.2 Kandy city traffic Volume 34 ± 5.3 Traffic flow on approach roads toward city centre 36 5.4 O-D Survey at Ampitiya 52 5.5 O-D Survey at Tennekumbura 54 5.6 O-D Survey at Katugastota 56 5.7 O-D Survey at Getambe 58 5.8 O-D Survey at Heeressagala 60 5.9 Traffic to Kandy desires 62 5.10 Traffic through Kandy desires 64 i ' 5.11 Kandy city traffic desires 66 5.12 Traffic from main trunk roads 67 5.13 Places at origins and destinations of passenger vehicles 69 TABLES PAGE 2.1 Details of the main roads in Kandy metropolitan Region 14 2.2 Land use in Kandy Municipal Area for 1995 16 2.3 Population in KMC area 18 4.1 Survey Locations 21 4.2 Details of Survey 25 5.1 Classified vehicle counts on lake round road 28 5.2 Classified Bus count on lake round road 29 5.3 Summary of classified Bus counts (Rout buses) 30 5.4 Summary of Traffic volume data 32 5.5 Peaks and average Traffic volumes 37 5.6 Competition of Daily Traffic to the city 38 5.7 PCU Factors 39 5.8 Vehicle PCU conversion for vehicle types - Lake round 48 5.9 Bus PCU conversion - Lake round 48 5.10 Summary of traffic volume and PCU at all locations 42 5.11 Peak Hour traffic and average daily traffic 43 5.12 Peak hour traffic volume and average daily traffic 43 5.13 Comparison of calculation ADT with RDA data 44 5.14 Service flow capacity on roads 45 5.15 Traffic volume in PCU's 46 5.16 Level of service calculation 46 5.17 Passenger flow calculation (Other vehicles) 47 5.18 Bus capacity data 48 5.18 (A) Bus loading and occupancy factors 48 5.19 Passenger flow calculation of the sample 49 5.20 Passenger flow calculation of the total buses 49 5.21 Summary of passenger inflow 49 5.22 Comparison of traffic volume and origin destination survey data 67 5.23 Origin destination survey data in 1961 & 1998 68 5.24 Summary of origin and destination 69 7.1 Summary of traffic flow in Kandy 74 .k. -m ABSTRACT In the city of Kandy traffic problems have made severe impact on people by causing inconvenience and it has affected them socially and economically. In order to find solutions, comprehensive studies have to be carried out to collect data, to analyze them for identification of problems. The extent of the study area was confined to the study of major traffic entering the city along main and trunk roads from outstations. The main entrances to the city were considered as Tennekumbura, Katugastota, Getambe, Heeressagala Junction and Ampitiya. Surveys of traffic volume and Origin and Destination were carried out to find actual traffic volumes on major roads and traffic desires of the commuters. Evaluation of the present situation of main roads to the city was done based on the findings of the studies on traffic volume and road capacities. Studies were directed to find out Peak Hour Traffic, Composition of Traffic, number of Vehicles and Passengers entering the city per day. The result of the study reveals that about 40,000 vehicles and 331,000 people enter the city daily. About 50% of the total vehicles entering the city are Car/ Van/ Jeep type. Origin and destination survey data shows that only about 40% of vehicles need to come to the city center and only about 15 - 20% of vehicles need to go through the city for other destinations. Out of the four main roads, situation of the Kandy - Katugastota Road is critical where widening of road or alternative road is urgently required. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I thank Dr. Amal Kumarage Senior Lecturer of University of Moratuwa for the guidance and encouragement given to me in carrying out the survey and preparing this report. I am indeed grateful to him for the support given to obtain financial assistance from the University of Moratuwa in order to carryout the surveys. I also acknowledge with thanks the assistance given to me by the Chief Secretary of Central Provincial Council by granting financial and other facilities to follow this course. I also thank Mr. Nimal Mediwaka D.I.G. Kandy and other Police Officers for the assistance given in carrying out the traffic survey. I am grateful to Miss. D.Roshanee Wickramasinghe in my office for type setting the document. 1.0 INTRODUCTION Traffic congestion is a major problem in Sri Lanka. This makes severe impacts on the citizens and commuters causing delay, discomfort and unsafe conditions. Also, it affects the economic growth of the country as congestion prohibits free flow of traffic. On the other hand accidents, which resulted by traffic congestion causes vehicle and property losses and injuries and deaths to the commuters and pedestrians. In the city of Kandy, the traffic congestion has come to a critical point where urgent solutions are needed. Therefore it was identified that provision of a traffic plan for Kandy is very important at this stage. Even though some remedial measures such as construction of some alternative roads, changes made to traffic flow pattern, provision of traffic signals and improvements to intersections were taken to control traffic congestion in the city of Kandy, problems are still the same. The solutions needed are unique to the city of Kandy. There are various factors and data, which affect the traffic flow. Their impacts should be analyzed considering one and the others and blending them as a whole. Some of the factors, affecting the traffic flow, are given below, (a) Land use patterns and changes to it. (b) Population growth. (c) Movement pattern of the people. (d) Proposed future development. Traffic generation in the city mainly depends on its land use patterns. When land uses are changed traffic patterns and volume of traffic are changed. For example, a part of the city is identified as sacred area where the building of Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Tooth Relic) four Devales, the Palace of the last king of Kandy and his Assembly Hall (Magul Maduwa) are situated will not change the land uses forever. Therefore there will not be any traffic pattern changes in that area. Whereas as there will be changes to the present traffic patterns and volume of traffic if the Bogambara prison which covers about 18 acres in the city centre is relocated at Pallekelle 9 km away from Kandy according to the set up plans to be implemented by the relevant authority. 8 Healthy weather conditions in and around the city, educational opportunities and scenic beauty in the hilly area are some of the reasons for rapid increase of population. The following data is needed to be collected in order to solve the traffic problems in the city. * Road network details. * Road capacities * Traffic volumes * Pedestrian counts * Parking details etc. However in this endeavour, it is required to carryout various studies such as traffic volume, speed, delays, land use patterns, future improvements to the city, parking and geometric improvements of the road net work etc,. But it is not possible for one individual to cover all these areas due to limited financial assistance and non - availability of other recourses.