668

Paper ID: TE-009

International Conference on Recent Innovation in Civil Engineering for Sustainable Development
(IICSD-2015)
Department of Civil Engineering
DUET - Gazipur, Bangladesh

A Survey Study For User Attributes On Foot Over Bridges In Perspective Of Dhaka City

A. Das1 and S. Barua2

Abstract
Safe roads for pedestrian is a popular catchword now-a-days. During next twenty years, pedestrian in
Dhaka city will be a serious headache to the city planners. Among several road user groups; Pedestrians
are most vulnerable, on the contrary, they are less prioritized. Pedestrians are the victim of most fatality
and casualty occurred in Dhaka city. Like other mega cities, pedestrian volume here is very high and it is
very densely—especially in peak hours. Many foot over bridges have already been constructed at
different locations in the city to solve pedestrian-vehicle conflict at busy roads. However, number of foot
over bridges in Dhaka are negligible comparing to huge pedestrian demand. In this study, questioner
surveys will be conducted to investigate performance of existing foot over bridge facilities and possible
causes of people’s reluctance to the use of foot over bridges will be tried to identify. Several issues or key
factors will be incorporated in the survey form and people will be allowed to fill up those voluntarily.
Results of the survey will be compared to some common attributes of people’s reluctance using foot over
bridges like inconvenience, unawareness of the risk in crossing the street, poor accessibility, congested
foot over bridges, lack of security, time consuming and bad surroundings. Usually these are the common
reasons that foot over bridges remain under-served and become ineffective to meet public demand. In
this research, major problems associated with foot over bridges and its overall performances will be
assessed. Later, a regression model will be suggested to identify attributes regarding pedestrian foot over
bridges. These key factors can be taken under consideration for future planning of pedestrian facilities.
Proper planning will make foot over bridges more popular and feasible to meet huge pedestrian demand.
In addition, pedestrian-vehicle related accidents will be reduced significantly.

Keywords: Foot over bridge, pedestrian, pedestrian facilities, questioner survey, regression model

1. Introduction

Dhaka City Corporation has constructed number of foot over bridges to avoid vehicle pedestrian
conflict and smooth flow of both without interruptions. One of the purpose of the foot over bridges
are to ensure safe road crossing facility for the pedestrian. However, most of these foot over bridges
are not in appropriate place and some of these are not usable. Moreover the people are accustomed to
disobey the traffic regulation, there are no strict rules and the people have little time to use foot over
bridges. As a result, pedestrian accident, fatalities are increasing over times and pedestrian
interruption the smooth vehicular flow in some busiest intersections. The research tried to find out the
attributes behind the ignoring of traffic laws by taking interview of pedestrians. After studying
attributes of foot over bridge usage for a month, a lot of data and exclusive information are found.
Later, the information has been examined by statistical analysis.

2. Literature Review

A footbridge is a bridge designed for pedestrians rather than vehicular traffic. Footbridges are located
across roads to let pedestrians cross safely without slowing down the traffic—particularly found near
1
Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Information Technology and Sciences (UITS),
Dhaka – 1212, Bangladesh, anikdas.buet@gmail.com
2
Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Information Technology and Sciences (UITS),
Dhaka – 1212, Bangladesh, sauravbarua02@gmail.com

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intersections, educational institutions and hospitals to help prevent people running in front of moving
cars. Several researches have been conducted on pedestrian movement safety and foot over bridges. A
survey conducted by Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) in 2006 found that pedestrians in Dhaka city are
reluctant to use foot over bridge while crossing the roads rather than they prefer to across the roads
though they have the access to use nearby [1]. The Centre for Urban Studies has conducted a research
on the usage of the foot over bridges in Dhaka city and focused on pedestrian behavior [2]. M.M.
Haque and H. M. Ahsan identified pedestrian as most vulnerable group for accident in Dhaka city [3].
A study conducted by A. Rubayat and N. Sultana found that less than 50% people do not use foot over
bridge [4]. S.K. Mitra et al. analyzed behavioral pattern of the pedestrian towards following traffic
rule in crossing a road [5]. D. M. Sabet suggested that improved infrastructure, law enforcement, and
educational campaigns can increase pedestrians’ interest to use foot over bridges [6].

3. User Attributes of Foot Over Bridges

Despite high levels of pedestrian fatalities, pedestrians often dodge cars, hold out their hands to stop
oncoming traffic while crossing the street. Unlawful cross walking is not a legal offense in
Bangladesh. Crosswalks are often unmarked, lack of walk indicator lights and there is no time period
when it could be considered safe to cross the street in many intersections. Though foot over bridges
are active countermeasures and have safety benefits; those are far from a perfect solution to pedestrian
safety problems. Many perceived that foot over bridges as insecure, dirty, subject to long detour and
require too much effort. Different aspects of foot over bridges are also considered, such as level of
convenience and surrounding environment.

4. Research Method

The research design focused on pedestrian behavior to test these different attributes including overall
condition assessment of foot over bridges. The research focused on busy intersections, each with a
foot over bridge and each without a safe means to cross the street without using the footbridges. Such
as— Banani, Mirpur, Farmgate, Bangla Motor, Uttara and Notun Bazar. Questions of the survey form
was simple and based on tick marks mostly so that respondents can easily understand. The questions
of the form was prepared by following researches conducted by Center for Urban studies, Dhaka [2].
Collected data were unbiased to gender, race, age and professions.

5. Data Collection

Total 143 nos. questionnaire survey were collected from different locations in Dhaka city.
Respondents were asked to rank the attributes based on their perception. These were strongly agree,
agree, not agree or disagree, disagree and strongly disagree which were numerically ranked one to
five respectively. For overall condition of foot over bridge, the condition was ranked as very poor,
poor, fair, good and excellent with one to five marking respectively. Questions and the responses are
mentioned in the following Table 1.

Table-1. Respondents’ data

Responses
Reasons not using foot over
Strongly Not agree or Strongly
bridges Agree Disagree
agree disagree disagree
Foot over bridges are time N 39 50 26 16 12
consuming. % 27.27% 34.97% 18.18% 11.19% 8.39%
N 30 45 29 28 11
Foot over bridges are too high
% 20.98% 31.47% 20.28% 19.58% 7.69%
Foot over bridges are occupied N 89 24 13 4 13
by hawker % 62.24% 16.78% 9.09% 2.80% 9.09%

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Responses
Reasons not using foot over
Strongly Not agree or Strongly
bridges Agree Disagree
agree disagree disagree
Foot over bridges have lack of N 65 46 16 3 13
security % 45.45% 32.17% 11.19% 2.10% 9.09%
Foot over bridges take a long N 43 43 36 11 10
walk % 30.07% 30.07% 25.17% 7.69% 6.99%
Foot over bridges have poor N 50 47 31 7 8
entry access % 34.97% 32.87% 21.68% 4.90% 5.59%
Foot over bridges are N 45 55 24 14 5
congested % 31.47% 38.46% 16.78% 9.79% 3.50%
Feel uneasy to use foot over N 36 44 30 20 13
bridge % 25.17% 30.77% 20.98% 13.99% 9.09%
Foot over bridge look dirty N 70 35 21 10 7
and lack of cleanness % 48.95% 24.48% 14.69% 6.99% 4.90%
Foot over bridge are in N 37 46 32 13 15
inappropriate position % 25.87% 32.17% 22.38% 9.09% 10.49%
Very poor Poor Fair Good Excellent
Overall rating you want to give N 15 67 32 22 7
for foot over bridge in Dhaka. % 10.49% 46.85% 22.38% 15.38% 4.90%

6. Data Analysis

Data were analyzed using descriptive, correlation and regression analysis. SPSS is a popular statistical
software developed by IBM in 1968 was used for statistical analysis of responses. Table 2 shows the
descriptive analysis of the data.

Table-2. Descriptive statistics

Std.
Mean Variance Skewness Kurtosis
Attributes Deviation
Statistic Statistic Statistic Statistic Std. Error Statistic Std. Error
Overall_rating 2.57 1.031 1.063 .621 .203 -.244 .403
Time_consuming 2.36 1.224 1.499 .665 .203 -.544 .403
Too_high 2.62 1.233 1.520 .336 .203 -.934 .403
Occupied_hawker 1.80 1.270 1.614 1.560 .203 1.240 .403
Lack_security 1.97 1.216 1.478 1.366 .203 1.036 .403
Long_walk 2.30 1.055 1.113 .392 .203 -.750 .403
Poor_access 2.08 .996 .993 .783 .203 .182 .403
Congested 2.15 1.083 1.173 .835 .203 .045 .403
Uneasy 2.51 1.261 1.590 .500 .203 -.768 .403
Dirty 1.94 1.167 1.363 1.133 .203 .379 .403
Inappropriate_position 2.29 1.148 1.319 .833 .203 .075 .403

Descriptive statistics show that, overall rating is 2.57. All the attributes along overall rating have
standard deviation around 1-1.2. Mean value of response varies from 1.8 to 2.6 for the attributes. The
value is within poor to fair range. The data are moderate positive skewed. All factors are positive
skewed. Some factors such as-Occupied by hawker, lack of security and dirtiness are very highly
skewed. Normal distribution has kurtosis 0. Overall rating has kurtosis negative value, i.e. lower than
normal distribution. From the distribution of responses, tails are lighter than normal distribution. In
question of occupied by hawker and lack security, respondents are highly concentrated on the average
responses. Respondents are widely varies in too high, long walk and uneasiness point of view. After

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descriptive statistics, correlation analysis is conducted. Table 3 represents results of correlation

statistics.

Table-3. Correlation statistics

Attributes Overall_rating
Overall_rating Pearson Correlation 1
Sig. (2-tailed)
Time_consuming Pearson Correlation .283**
Sig. (2-tailed) .001
Too_high Pearson Correlation -.180*
Sig. (2-tailed) .032
Occupied_hawker Pearson Correlation .089
Sig. (2-tailed) .288
Lack_security Pearson Correlation .007
Sig. (2-tailed) .931
Long_walk Pearson Correlation .417**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
Poor_access Pearson Correlation .474**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
Congested Pearson Correlation .192*
Sig. (2-tailed) .022
Uneasy Pearson Correlation .017
Sig. (2-tailed) .840
Dirty Pearson Correlation .249**
Sig. (2-tailed) .003
Inappropriate_position Pearson Correlation .384**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000

Correlation analysis shows that some attributes are not statistically significant with overall rating of
foot over bridge. The insignificant factors are—too high, occupied by hawker, congested, dirty, lack
of security and uneasy. Statistically insignificant attributes can be discarded. After that, regression
model is constructed to understand relationship of overall condition of foot over bridge with other
attributes.

Table-4. Regression model

Model Summary
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate
a
1 .618 .382 .364 .823
a. Predictors: (Constant), Inappropriate_position, Time consuming, Poor_access, Long_walk

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Table-5. Analysis of variance (ANOVA)

ANOVAb
Sum of Mean
Model df F Sig.
Squares Square
Regression 57.609 4 14.402 21.287 .000a
1 Residual 93.370 138 .677
Total 150.979 142
a. Predictors: (Constant), Inappropriate_position, Time_consuming, Poor_access, Long_walk
b. Dependent Variable: Overall_rating

Table-6. Coefficients

Coefficientsa
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficient t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) .563 .233 2.420 .017
Time_consuming .156 .057 .185 2.719 .007
Long_walk .231 .071 .236 3.227 .002
1
Poor_access .337 .074 .326 4.551 .000
Inappropriate_position .179 .065 .199 2.757 .007
a. Dependent Variable: Overall_rating

The reduced model consists with four attributes, which are statistically significant with overall rating.
These factors are—time consuming, long walk, poor access and inappropriate position. The R2 of the
regression model is 0.382 though lower than full model, all attributes in it are p<0.05 as per ANOVA.

7. Conclusion

Valuable information are obtained from the statistical analysis of survey data regarding respondents’
perception on foot over bridges. Significant portion of pedestrian avoid foot over bridge because those
requires long walk to climb rather than crossing road and pedestrian have to spend more time to cross
the road. Proper law enforcement and blocking unlawful road crossing by providing high guard rail in
the median can force people to use foot over bridge. Besides, pedestrian thinks that foot over bridges
are in inappropriate position and do not have proper access. City Corporation should take necessary
steps before design and plan of foot over bridge construction. Also authority need to take care for
unobstructed access of foot over bridge and proper maintenance so that those are easy accessible.

8. References

[1] Aminuzzaman, S. M. and Shuvo, S. H., Culture of Defying Laws: A Case Study on 'Foot Over-
bridges' in Dhaka City, Outcome of Group 1, Department of Public Administration, University
of Dhaka, Dhaka, 2015.
[2] Center for Urban Studies, Feasibility study on foot over bridges in Dhaka City, Dhaka: Center
for Urban Studies, http://cusdhaka.org/, (2005), http://cusdhaka.org/research/feasibility-study-
on-foot-over-bridges-in-dhaka-city.
[3] Haque, M. M. and Ahsan, H. M., Traffic Safety in Dhaka City: Key Issues and
Countermeasures, Journal of Civil Engineering, The Institute of Engineers, 30(1), 13-24, 2002.

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[4] Rubayat A. and Sultana N., Reasons Behind the Road-Traffic Accident in Dhaka City: An
Empirical Study, International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Literature
(IJRHAL), 1(2), 47-56, 2013.
[5] Saha M. K., Tishi, T. R., Islam, M. S. and Mitra, S. K., Pedestrian Behavioral Pattern and
Preferences in Different Road Crossing Systems of Dhaka City, Journal of Bangladesh Institute
of Planners, 6, 149-160, 2013.
[6] D. M. Sabet, Testing the impact of risk on pedestrian behavior in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Center
for Enterprise and Society, ULAB, CES working paper, http://www.ulab.edu.bd/CES/home/,
(2013), http://www.ulab.edu.bd/CES/research-and-publications/

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