Evaluating Traffic Congestion on National Highway (N-5)

Abstract

The aim of the study is to evaluate the traffic congestion on National Highway (N-5). For this purpose, real time data was fetched from the electronic toll and traffic management system managed by National Highway Authority of Pakistan. Data of 24 hours of one week for eight electronic toll and traffic management system enabled toll plazas on N-5 was used to identify trends on the basis of total traffic count and passenger car equivalents. The descriptive analysis is done on the data of traffic count in order to visualize patterns and see the distribution of data. The study also aims to reveal the dominant mode of travel (vehicle category) that causes congestion in peak hours. The data classified in to different vehicle types is converted in to passenger car equivalent as the homogeneity of data makes the analysis effective. The travel time depends on the speed of vehicle based on traffic congestion. The traffic count impacts the vehicle speed as there is the relationship between speed and volume. The speed variation for 24 hours based on passenger car equivalent is calculated by using volume to capacity ratio. This study provides a baseline benchmark for road freight transportation and can be used for effective vehicle scheduling. This approach can help in reducing overall distribution cost by reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.