Congestion Mitigation on an Urban Arterial through Infrastructure Intervention

Abstract

Pakistan has experienced a rapid motorization in last one decade as motorized vehicle population increased from about 5.3 million in year 2002 to 11 million vehicles of all type in year 2012. Also, the large scale migration of people into cities has resulted into urban sprawl and is incurring huge social cost in term of traffic congestion and higher housing prices. Aging transportation infrastructure of cities like Rawalpindi is unable to meet the enhanced traffic demand due to increased motorization. A well-planned, efficient and sensible transportation system is necessary to ensure the better traffic movement and operational condition of road system. Our focus of study is to identify the traffic congestion problems of Rawalpindi Saddar (from Qasim Market Intersection to Pearl Continental Intersection) and coordinating the signals using advanced traffic simulation and coordination softwares. Longer delays at the intersection and slow traffic speed on links are damaging the environment of Rawalpindi. In addition, we have proposed different infrastructure interventions. Present effort aims to investigate the traffic congestion problems of Rawalpindi and to suggest suitable cost effective solution for relieving traffic congestion and to reduce travel time, vehicle operating and environmental costs.