Abstract:
A special reason for congestion in Pakistan is deployment of security check posts due to worse security conditions. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks and many other extremist activities, the phenomenon of terrorism has abruptly changed the socioeconomic and geopolitical situation of the world. These check posts have been poorly placed in major cities of the country including capital city Islamabad. Currently there are 48 check posts in Islamabad which interrupts the normal traffic flow on different roads. These interuptions are causing problems like travel time delay, extra fuel consumption, inconvenience to drivers, pollution, safety concerns etc. Against this background, recognizing and estimating the cost associated with these check posts is an extremely difficult exercise. Moreover, the absence of primary data makes the task even more challenging. The present study should thus be treated as an attempt at filling the knowledge gap in this area, encouraging more sophisticated analyses for better frameworks, and conflict cost estimates. This study aims to quantify two types of user costs i.e. Travel time cost and Vehicle operating cost. This study also focuses on proposing conceptual designs of security check post for different functional classes of highways for smooth flow of traffic. It also includes comparison of the existing layout and design with the conceptual designs.
