Paper No.

550

STUDY OF TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN SYLHET CITY

BIJIT KUMAR BANIK*, MD. AKTARUL ISLAM CHOWDHURY** & MD. SHAHJAHAN KAISAR ALAM SARKAR*** ABSTRACT In Sylhet, newly born Metropolitan City of north eastern Bangladesh, faces severe traffic congestion due to rapid and uncontrolled development by an unacceptable level of disparity in transportation demand and supply scenario resulting in environmental degradation as well. To assess the severity of the existing traffic system engulfed by tremendous traffic congestion in Sylhet city a study was conducted by Civil and Environmental Engineering department of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology throughout the year (2005-2006). In the study, traffic volume count, survey of road geometry and calculation of flow capacity, pedestrian count, household interview and questionnaire survey for counting travel time and trip generation was performed. Relevant secondary data was also collected. The study revealed that Ambarkhana to Chowhatta link, the core link of the city was found as the busiest, link, whereas, the Ambarkhana intersection was found to be the most critical one showing the maximum traffic volume at a rate of 9111 PCU/h. Two traffic congestion peaks, first at 11.00 to 12.00 mainly by office, business and education trips and the second at 17:00 to 18:00 due to business and shopping trips was observed. Traffic congestion mainly occurred by non-motorized vehicles (47 percent) such as rickshaw and pushcart, which was followed by tempo (15 percent), private car (14 percent). Illegal occupations on the roadside by hawkers, mobile shops etc. (34 percent) were among the major causes of traffic congestion in the city. Maximum pedestrian movement was found at Zindabazar to Chowhatta link running through the only busy commercial zone of the city. The Roadway Congestion Index (RCI) of 2.36 indicated the severity of traffic congestion of Sylhet City. Such a detailed scenario of the traffic paradigm of the urban conglomeration of a developing country is depicted in this paper. 1 INTRODUCTION (R), and even one International Airport of the country, are located in or around the Sylhet city. Thus, the city plays a big role in controlling the economic development of not only Sylhet region but also the entire Bangladesh. Due to lack of proper planning and control over land use activities, people from various districts rush to Sylhet and made it a horde of residential, commercial and business centers. Therefore, high migrations rate especially a population growth rate of 4 percent per annum (1) is observed in Sylhet city in comparison to the annual average growth rate of 2.01 percent in Bangladesh (2). Such high migration rate increases the population of Sylhet city dramatically. According to Bureau of Statistics (3) the total population of this area was about 0.2 million in 1991 but
e-mail: bijit_sustbd@yahoo.com

Traffic and transportation problems in Sylhet City have not been commensurate with the increasing demands for its usage. The city expanded dynamically without any planning and control due to the rapid socioeconomic changes. Sylhet City is the nucleus of the greater Sylhet regions and all of the divisional head office of corporate offices, the higher educational facilities (two public universities, one public medical college, one public engineering college, three private universities, four private medical colleges, private hospitals and clinics, government colleges and schools), so many business and shopping complexes, the holly shrines of Hazrat Shah Jalal (R) and Hazrat Shah Paran
* Lecturer ** Associate Professor *** Assisant Professor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet-3114, Bangladesh

Written comments on this Paper are invited and will be received upto 30th June, 2009.

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at present the population of this area is about 0.7 million (4). Such rapid and uncontrolled developments have created an unacceptable level of disparity in transportation demand and supply scenario, which resulted in traffic congestion and environmental degradation. To reach at an equilibrium level between the demand and the supply of transport and traffic system, it is required to implement traffic engineering and transport planning measures on the basis of scientific studies. 2 SCOPE OF THIS STUDY

3.1 Selection of Study Area Sylhet, a newly born City Corporation, is situated at the 0 northeast portion of the country with latitude of 28.85 N 0 and longitude of 98.8 E. The study area selected for this study comprises 26.50 sq. km of central urban portion of Sylhet City. The study area belonged to SCC. For the analysis of regional transportation activities, the study area is divided into five broad sub-regions or Specified Zones (SPZ) which is designated as Zone-1, Zone- 2, Zone-3, Zone-4, and Zone-5 as shown in Fig. 2. SCC has total 27 wards. Table-1 shows ward wise zoning of SCC area. Fig. 3 indicating road networks in Sylhet City Corporation showing important intersections Details of ward-wise population and zone-wise automobile ownership are presented in tables A1 and A2 of Annex A. Table 1 Zoning of SCC
Zone Zone Name No. 1 2 3 4 5 West Zone North Zone Central Business District (CBD) East Zone South Zone Consisting Wards 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 17 2, 13, 14, 15, 16 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 25, 26, 27

In view of constraints, like computational facilities, a time and information resource, the study is dedicated to the only central urban portion of Sylhet (Area under jurisdiction of SCC) and evaluation of some selected alternative planning options. Again, it is well recognized that changes in transportation system have always some long-term effects with corresponding land-use pattern changes. Such long-term effects with changes in land-use pattern are also out of the scope of this study. 3 METHODOLOGY

The study has been conducted by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet for assessing the existing traffic condition in Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) area (5). Fig.1 showing the stages of the research work.
Selection of study area

3.2 Traffic Volume Count The most important data are generated through the modern survey techniques like traffic volume count at different links and intersections. The extent of variation of traffic flow was ascertained by carrying out twelvehour (8:00 to 20:00) weekday counts at five intersections such as Bondor, Zindabazar, Chowhatta, Ambarkhana and Modina Market. By analyzing the twelve-hour traffic volumes, the period of peak flows are assessed. Traffic volume counts were performed at 20 major intersections and 20 important links only in the period of peak flows as assessed by twelve-hour traffic volume count. The traffic volume is expressed as passenger car unit per hour (PCU/h).

Zoning of study area

Data collection

Link volume count

Intersection volume count

Pedes -trian count

Link width+ Intersection dimension

Data from different sources

House hold interview

Travel time and travel cost

Data analysis and presentation

Conclusion and recommendations

Fig. 1 Flow chart showing the stages of the research

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3.3 Road Geometry and Flow Capacity Road geometry data of 20 link roads was surveyed and traffic flow capacity of those roads was calculated and expressed as PCU/h according to Indian Roads Congress (IRC). These theoretical traffic volumes are compared with the actual traffic volume and the ratio of volume to capacity is assessed.

3.4 Pedestrian Count Walking is very significant in urban areas of Bangladesh as the pedestrians form the largest single road-users group in terms of the total number of trips. Huge number of pedestrians may aggravate the traffic congestion if sufficient space (foot path) is not available for the movement of pedestrians. Considering the importance of the pedestrian activities pedestrian counts were conducted at five major busy links in the period of peak flows as assessed by twelve-hour traffic volume count. 3.5 Quantifying Congestion Due to lack of sufficient data only the Roadway Congestion Index (RCI) was selected to quantify congestion for this study. RCI can be calculated by the following equation (6)

Fig. 2 Map of sylhet city showing different zones

Fig. 3 Road networks in Sylhet City Corporation showing important intersections

(Vehicle per Peak H our )

(Vehicle per Peak H our Length ) Link Capacity ) ( Link RCI = (Vehicle per Link Peak H our Length )

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Here the RCI stands as the network weighted average volume capacity ratio. 3.6 Household Interview In order to obtain relevant socio-economic data and trip information, a household survey was carried out in SCC area. 100 households of five zones consisting of 20 for each zone were selected randomly for this survey work. Population of these 100 households was 715. Distributions of trips by purpose, by trip time and by trip mode have been assessed by household interview. 3.7 Travel Time Survey A travel time survey was conducted through interviewing different types of vehicles moving through five zone centroiods. This was done for four major travel modes such as rickshaw, car, motorcycle and tempo used in Sylhet. The zone centroiods were selected as Modina market, Ambarkhana, Zindabazar, Shibgonj, and Kadomtoli for Zone-1, Zone-2, Zone-3, Zone-4, and Zone-5 respectively. 3.8 Questionnaire Survey Public views and opinions about the problems and solutions relating to traffic movements and facilities have been gathered through questionnaire survey. Pedestrians, passengers, drivers, street hawkers, shopkeepers etc. were the main target of the questionnaire survey. Respondents were selected on a random basis. Approximately two hundred respondents were asked relevant questions (for example parking facility) as a part of the questionnaire survey. Some relevant photographs had also been taken during the field visits and questionnaire surveys. 3.9 Secondary Data Collection Secondary data such as road accident data with injury and fatality was collected from various departments such as SCC, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), and Police station.

4. RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS OF THE STUDY A lot of survey works were performed as a part of the study. Among these intersection survey, link volume count, household interview, roadside interview, pedestrian counts were the main primary data sources. 4.1 Traffic Volumes and Composition Twelve Hourly Volume Count

Fig. 4 Relative value of twelve hourly traffic volumes with respect to average

Figure 4 represents the relative value of twelve hourly traffic volumes with respect to average value at five locations in the study area. This data tended to show two distinct peak flows; one was observed between 11:00 to 12:00 which was 1.192 to the average flow and another was observed between 17:00 to 18:00, which was 1.164 to the average flow. The first peak (11.00 to 12.00) was occurred mainly by office, business and education trips. The second one (17:00 to 18:00) was occurred mainly by business and shopping trips. However, the flow of traffic remained almost fairly uniform through out the daytime. Flow of truck had been tended to be high during 17:00 to 18:00 as there was no truck flow before 15:00. Link volume count Traffic volumes were counted at 20 links in the period of peak flows (11:00 to 12:00 and 17:00 to 18:00) and compared with the actual capacity of those links. Table 2 represents the hourly average traffic volume expressed as PCU/h and the volume/capacity ratio at different

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links. The highest traffic volume was found in Ambarkhana to Chowhatta link (4569 PCU/h) where as the lowest one was observed in Eidgah to Tilaghor link (1571 PCU/h). However, the highest volume/capacity ratio was observed as 3.35 in Madina Market to Subidbazar link whereas the lowest one was observed as 1.31 in Eidgah to Tilaghor link. At all links, nonmotorized vehicles were dominant. It is evident that at all stations the major portion of vehicles was rickshaw (55 percent), which was followed by motorcycle (12 percent), auto rickshaw (9 percent), bicycle (7 percent), private car (6 percent) etc as shown in Fig. 5. Details of conversion of PCU and capacity are presented in table A3 and A4 of the Annex A. Table 2 Comparison of Actual Volume to the Link Capacity
Station In front of Bondhon community center West side of Fajilchisht bridge Near Electricity supply station TB gate In front of Dorgah gate Location Road Width (ft) Arterial 30 Arterial 30 Arterial 25 Arterial 21 Arterial 44.5 Arterial 38.5 Subarterial Subarterial Subarterial Arterial Subarterial Subarterial Subarterial Arterial 38 34 18.5 33.5 23.5 21 22 32 Link Type Actual Capacity Volume/ Volume (PCU/h) Capacity (PCU/h) Ratio 4023 1200 3.35 3780 2981 1571 4569 3209 4055 3106 3965 3089 3581 2805 3713 3583 3847 3904 3146 4002 2202 3639 1200 1200 1200 2500 2100 2100 2100 1200 2100 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 2100 1200 1200 3.15 2.48 1.31 1.83 1.53 1.93 1.48 3.30 1.47 2.98 2.34 3.09 2.99 3.21 3.25 2.62 1.91 1.84 3.03

Intersection survey Traffic volumes were also counted at 20 intersections in the period of peak flows (11:00 to 12:00 and 17:00 to 18:00) as shown in Table 3. The maximum traffic volume was found at Ambarkhana (9111 PCU/h), which was followed by Kudratulla Mosque (8306 PCU/h), Bondor (8115 PCU/h) etc. The lowest value was found in Tilaghor (4227 PCU/h). One of the very important intersection; Zindabazar was ranked as eighth and had a traffic volume of 6568 PCU/h. Similar to links' composition, the highest amount of vehicle at intersections was observed as rickshaw (54 percent), which was followed by motorcycle (13 percent), auto rickshaw (10 per cent), bicycle (7 percent), private car (6 percent) etc. as shown in Fig. 6.

Modina Market to Subidbazar Subidbazar to Ambarkhana Ambarkhana to Eidgah Eidgah to Tilaghor Ambarkhana to Chowhatta In front of Al-Hamra Chowhatta to shopping center Zindabazar In front of stadium Chowhatta to market Rikabibazar In front of Manru Chowhatta to Shopping Center Mirboxtula Near Barudkhana point Zindabazar to Nayasharak In front of Agragami Zindabazar to girls high School Modhuban Point Mirjajangal point Zindabazar to Lamabazar In front of Sylhet Rikabibazar to Metropoliton Clinic Medical In front of Modon Rikabibazar to Mohon College Lamabazar In front of Court Puler Mukh to Kudratulla Mosque In front of Nayasharak to Anurag Hotel Niorpul Near Mirabazar point Niorpul to Shibgonj Near Hatim Ali Mazar Shibgonj (Upashahar) to Tilaghor West side of Bondor to Children Park Children Park Near south side of Niorpul to Niorpul Intersection Subhanighat In front of Puler Mukh to Bangladesh Bank Taltala

6% 7%

11%
Rickshaw Motor-cycle Auto rickshaw Bicycle

9% 12%

55%

Private car Others

Fig. 5 Composition of vehicles at different links

6% 7%

10%

Rickshaw Motor-cycle Auto rickshaw Bicycle Private car Others

Sub18.5 arterial Arterial 32 Arterial 32 Arterial 42 Arterial 22 Arterial 18.5

10% 13%

54%

Fig. 6 Composition of vehicles at different intersections

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Table 3 Hourly Average Volume of Traffic at Different Intersections

Name of intersection Approach North South East Ambarkhana 4-legged 1603 2099 1474 Kudratulla Mosque (Bondor) 3-legged 4177 0 0 Bondor 3-legged 0 0 2958 Nayasharak 4-legged 1533 1372 1591 Modhuban (Bondor) 3-legged 0 869 2587 Rikabibazar 4-legged 1328 2057 1510 Puran Puler Mukh 3-legged 0 1840 2203 Zindabazar 4-legged 2880 514 1544 Modina Market 3-legged 0 1261 2447 Chowhatta 4-legged 1960 329 1603 Children Park (Bondor) 3-legged 1520 0 1695 Niorpul 4-legged 743 1409 2540 Subidbazar 3-legged 0 1502 1548 Lamabazar 4-legged 1656 672 2173 Puran Puler Mukh (Station) 3-legged 977 1261 782 Subhanighat 4-legged 793 1722 255 Eidgah 3-legged 0 1048 1412 Shibgonj 3-legged 0 602 1939 Barthokhola 3-legged 790 0 1515 Tilaghor 4-legged 502 459 1079 Type West 1882 2780 3840 1621 2575 1107 1954 1055 1931 1745 2369 856 1895 414 1429 1400 1507 1364 1051 1207 Total Vehicle/h 7058 6957 6798 6117 6031 6002 5997 5993 5639 5637 5584 5548 4945 4915 4449 4170 3967 3905 3356 3247

4.3 Roadway Congestion Index (RCI) The Roadway Congestion Index (RCI) was found 2.36 for the entire network as shown in Table 5. A similar study was performed for Dhaka city in 2002 (7) where RCI value of 2005 predicted from the model was 2.95. Table 5 Calculation for RCI
Col-1 Link Name Col-2 Col-3 Actual Capacity Volume (PCU/h) (PCU/h) 4023 2057 2981 1571 4059 3209 3255 3106 3165 3089 3228 2805 3713 1200 1200 1200 1200 2500 2100 2100 2100 1200 2100 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 2100 1200 1200 Col-4 Col-5 Col-6 Link Width (Col-2 * Length (m) Col-4) (km) 1.00 1.31 1.21 2.72 0.65 0.48 0.65 0.60 0.46 0.40 0.80 0.70 0.38 0.25 0.55 1.21 0.70 0.43 0.38 0.30 9.15 9.15 7.62 6.40 4023.00 2694.67 3607.01 4273.12 Col-7 Col-8 (Col-2 / (Col-6 * Col-3) Col-7) Col-9 RCI= ( Col-8 / Col-6)

Modina Market to Subidbazar Subidbazar to Ambarkhana Ambarkhana to Eidgah Eidgah to Tilaghor Ambarkhana to Chowhatta Chowhatta to Zindabazar Chowhatta to Rikabibazar Chowhatta to Mirboxtula Zindabazar to Nayasharak Zindabazar to ModhubanPoint Zindabazar to Lamabazar Rikabibazar to Medical

3.35 1.71 2.48 1.31 1.62 1.53 1.55 1.48 2.64 1.47 2.69 2.34 3.09 4.15 2.04 3.25 2.62 2.54 1.84 3.03

13487.11 4619.11 8960.41 5594.23 4283.63 2353.76 3279.41 2756.35 3839.94 1817.51 6946.66 4589.68 4365.68 5172.98 2744.41 15368.23 5773.43 5810.51 1535.45 3310.58 106609.07 2.36

13.72 2638.35 11.89 1540.32 11.59 2115.75 10.37 1863.60 5.79 1455.90

10.37 1235.60 7.32 6.40 6.71 9.76 5.79 9.76 9.76 2582.40 1963.50 1410.94 1245.75 1345.85 4723.84 2202.20

4.2 Pedestrian Count Pedestrians were counted at five links in the period of peak flows (11:00 to 12:00 and 17:00 to 18:00) and expressed as pedestrian/h,. Table 4. The maximum pedestrian was found at Zindabazar to Chowhatta link (3500) which was followed by Zindabazar to Bondor link (3409), and Bondor to Keen Bridge link (3090), Chowhatta to Amborkhana link (3076) and Bondor to Shishu park link (2628) etc. Table 4 Pedestrian Counts (5:00 P.M. to 6.00 P.M.)
Location Zindabazar to Bonor road in front of Sonali Bank Zindabaza to Chowhatta road in front of Al-Hamra shopping center Ambarkhana to Chowhatta road in front of Istikutum restaurant Bondor to children park road near tempo stand Bondor to puler much road in front of Judge Court Direction In bound Out bound Total In bound Out bound Total In bound Out bound Total In bound Out bound Total In bound Out bound Total No. of pedestrians 2003 1406 3409 1845 1655 3500 1589 1487 3076 1203 1425 2628 1398 1692 3090

Rikabibazar to Lamabazar

Puler Mukh to Kudratulla Mosque 4983 Nayasharak to Niorpul Niorpul to Shibgonj Shibgonj (Upashahar) to Tilaghor Bondor to Children Park Niorpul to Subhanighat Puler Mukh to Taltala TOTAL 2447 3904 3146 5327 2202 3639

12.80 2290.61 6.71 5.79 836.76 1091.70 45140.87

4.4 Household Interview From household interview for obtaining trip information, the total numbers of trips were reported as 417 for 100 households having people of 715. Therefore the gross per capita trip rate was calculated as 4.17 trips per household and 0.60 trips per person. It is evident from Fig. 7 that the greater percentage of trips were made for educational purpose (38 percent), which was followed by business trips (31 percent), job trips (18 percent) etc. The predominant mode of trips was observed as rickshaw (40 percent), which was followed by walk (20 percent), motorcycle (15 percent), car (12 percent) etc. On the other hand, Fig. 8 represents that most of the trips were made in short time, the maximum trips (51 percent) took 10 to 15 minutes only.

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4.6 Causes of Traffic Congestion

13% 18% 38%

Educational trips Business trips Job trips Others

31%

Road Side Activities

18% 34%
Illegal Narrow Unauthorized Others

17%

Fig. 7 Distributions of trips by purpose

31%
less than 10 10 to 15 min 6% 32% 1% 10% 15 to 30 min 30 to 45 min above 45 min 51%

Fig. 9 Causes of congestion due to roadside activities

Fig. 8 Distributions of trips by time required

4.5 Travel Time Survey Travel time and cost for inter-zonal movement was predicted by travel time and travel cost survey. Taking weighted average of different vehicles travel time for different locations (zone centroids), an average travel time for zone-to-zone movement was estimated which is shown in Table 6. Table 6 Zone-to-Zone Travel Time (Minutes)
Origin Zone 1 1 2 3 4 5 11 15 22 27 12 11 22 12 16 12 Destination Zone 2 11 3 15 12 4 22 11 12 5 27 22 16 12

The city is too much centralized to a small area. The central portion is Zindabazar and Bandar, which suffers a strong traffic congestion almost allover the day. In the central portion of Sylhet, floating shops, mobile hawkers, artisans and temporary traders of different goods and commodities occupy almost every road. The questionnaire survey result claims that, illegal occupations on the road side by hawkers; mobile shops etc. (34 percent) were the major causes of traffic congestion which was followed by narrow road condition (31 percent), unauthorized parking (17 percent) etc as shown in Fig. 9. Parking Facility Lack of parking facility for the increasing number of motorized vehicles is one of the major causes of aggravating traffic congestion in SCC area. There are so many high-rise buildings situated in the commercial hubs of SCC area and many are also going to be constructed. Most of these have almost no parking facility. Setting up commercial complexes on the lower floors is very common practices in these high-rise buildings and users of these buildings have to park their vehicles on the roadside that causes severe traffic congestion in peak hours. The questionnaire survey result also claims that, the existing facilities are very poor which has been supported by most of the respondents (90 percent of passengers, 80 percent of drivers and 75 percent of shopkeepers).

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Improper Design of Intersections

BANIK, CHOWHURY & SARKAR ON

Management Problem Traffic police personnel were not able to utilize their skill and ability on roads due to limited scope and lack of proper training on traffic rules, regulations and orders. Lack of awareness or negligence was also responsible for not applying traffic rules properly and systematic control of traffic. No passenger's waiting shed was established, no town services-of bus or minibuses has been introduced in the Sylhet City. There were no public bus and adequate tempo services that result in higher level of motorized personal vehicles. 4.7 Accident Scenario The number of road accidents in whole Bangladesh increased from 3533 in the year of 1997 to 3970 in the year of 2000. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, shares more than 20 percent of road accidents of Bangladesh with annual death of over 300 (8). However, total 837 accidents were recorded in the last five years (2000 to 2004) in Sylhet region and the total 522 deaths were also recorded in those accidents (9). A survey was conducted on 200 accidents occurred in Sylhet region. The result of the survey revealed that most of the accident caused by rickshaw (27 percent), which was followed by tempo and baby taxi (22 percent), private car, microbus and truck (19 per cent), push cart and bicycle (4 per cent) etc. Survey results also showed that most of the accident caused due to the tendency of the driver to overtake (28 percent) followed by lack of traffic knowledge (21 percent), mismanagement (18 percent) etc. 4.8 Public Suggestion for Remedial Measures

The real feature limiting the capacity of the main road system and creating traffic congestion is the lack of capacity of the intersection. Factors contributing to this problem are narrow intersections, encroachment by hawkers as well as parked vehicles, poor design and management of intersections. Ambarkhana intersection is the busiest and most critical intersection of Sylhet, and Zindabazar is one of the more congested intersections based on both flow and design. Frequent truck movement on Ambarkhana intersections create considerable bottleneck to the smooth flow of local vehicular and pedestrian traffic. About half width of the Sunamgonj road of Ambarkhana intersection is occupied by an unauthorized tempo stand as well as by the street hawkers that ultimately reduce the roadway capacity resulting serious traffic congestion in that region. Vehicle Responsible for Congestion The questionnaire survey revealed that traffic congestion mainly occurred by non-motorized vehicles (47 percent) such as rickshaw and pushcart which was followed by tempo (15 percent), private car (14 percent) etc. Most of the rickshaw pullers have no training and they are not even aware of the traffic rules. In Sylhet City, both motorized and non-motorized vehicles are occupied by the same streets at the same time. The heterogeneous speeds create chaos and congestion on the street. Lack of traffic signs and signals Proper traffic signs and signals were not present in any intersection. Though some of the intersections (for example) Puran puler mukh, Niorpul etc.) have the traffic signaling system, they were not functioning. All of them are spoiled or out of operation. Sufficient numbers of speed breakers, zebra crossings, markings, light posts with streetlights were not available in most major roads of Sylhet city.

A lot of suggestions came from household interview. Among them 38 percent people suggested to wide the existing roads, 22 percent to improve the major intersections while 15 percent for building up awareness among public and also the drivers. 70 percent respondents recommended for increasing 12-seated CNG driven 4-stroke vehicles and to turn all the 2stroke three wheelers to CNG driven 4-stroke three wheelers.

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5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Sylhet, a rapid growing city with non-controllable migration from peripheral outskirt in view to change the economic fortune aggravates the urban facilities of the inhabitants in limited infrastructures including narrow roads and streets of pre-urban and initial urban age. Increase of population creates tremendous traffic pressure on old narrow congested roads to provide excess transport facilities in the city. Two distinct traffic peak flows observed during the study. Morning peak of 11-12 AM corresponded to the educational trips of the students and teachers as well as the multi-actions offices whatever private or public while Past Meridian peak of 17-18 indicated to the busy scenario of shopping pattern of the city. The highest traffic volume was in Ambarkhana to Chowhatta, the busiest link of the Sylhet City leading to the maximum traffic volume at the Ambarkhana intersection at the heart of the city. The pedestrian concentration hiked up at Zindabazar to Chowhatta, the central part of the city. The roadway congestion index of 2.36 indicated the severity of traffic congestion in Sylhet city. To face the traffic congestion of a newly born city corporation and metropolitan city, authority should take initiative through proper study applying engineering science of traffic management aided with computer models. It should utilize the knowhow of traffic engineers and involvement of the experts, specialists and concerned academicians. It will lead to the short term and long term solution for efficient traffic management in Sylhet city. In this regard the following recommendation would be meaningful. a) The most vital and significant task to improve the traffic condition is to wide the roads that can be possible, because all of the links are exceeding its capacity. b) As some of the roads are getting almost fixed the alternative actions for these roads should be made. As mentioned earlier the west road of Zindabazar is almost in a fixed position and the widening of that road is impossible here. Modhuban (Bondor) to Chowhatta road is one way, same way Mirjajangal

zindabazar-Nayasharak road can be made one way. In that case the pressure on sub-roads (Dariapara & Howapara) will be increased and development of that road would be essential. c) A crucial decision have to made by the respective authority to decentralize the institutional and administrative premises to somewhat distant away from the most congested commercial zone (Bondor & Zindabazar), resulting in significant reduction of congestion. d) SCC can enforce some rules on developing highrise infrastructure. In that case the high-rise building should obviously provide multistoried parking facility. e) Constructing multi-storied parking complex by replacing Hasan Market at Bondor, where ground, first and second floor can be used as off street parking and others floors will be used for market. This feasible solution can help overcome traffic congestions in the Central business area. f) Sufficient footpaths and footway should be constructed to facilitate free movements of pedestrians on major roads.

g) Floating shops, mobile hawkers, artisans and temporary traders should be removed from roads and roadsides. h) Required number of speed breakers. Zebra crossings, traffic signals, light posts with street lights are to be constructed. Also provision of traffic markings and traffic signals should be introduced. i) Parking for rickshaws, buses, trucks should be restricted to the roads, enforcing by the laws and orders of the duty police. Traffic rules and regulations should be maintained on roads by increasing the number of duty police at road junctions and other busy places. The Tempo terminal near the Bondor point that has great impact on traffic operation to minimize traffic

j)

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congestion should be shifted elsewhere. k) The existing Ambarkhana intersection, which is a most critical one, should be improved and widened immediately. Undesirable vehicle storage and parking on both sides of the approaches area should be strictly restricted. l) Separate lane for both motorized and nonmotorized vehicles should be introduced as the non-motorized mode; Rickshaw plays significant roles in causing congestion.

Alleviate Traffic Congestion in Dhaka City" M.Sc. Engg. Thesis. Department of Civil Engineering, BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2002. 8. "Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA)", Dhaka, Government of Bangladesh, 2002. 9. Sharmin, R., Chowdhury M.A.I., Sarkar M.S.K.A., and Haque M.S. "Study on Traffic Environment: A Case Study in Sylhet City Corporation Area". In Bangladesh Journal of Environmental Science. Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh, Vol. 12(1), 2006, pp 123-128.
ANNEX A (Clause 3.1 & 4.1) Table A1 Ward wise population data Ward No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Total
Source: SCC, 2005

REFERENCES 1. Rahman, G. and Islam, M.M. "Urban Growth Pattern in Dhaka City and its Problem of Urban Solid Waste Management. In Bangladesh Environment 2000", Ed. M. Feroz Ahmed, Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon, Dhaka, 2000, pp 436-443. 2. Ahmed, M.F. "Municipal Waste Management in Bangladesh with Emphasis on Recycling, Aspect of Solid Waste Management Bangladesh Context". Ed. Mofizul Hoq and Mrs. H. Lechner, German Cultural Institute, Dhaka, 1994, pp 113-131. 3. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) (1991), Statistical Year Book of Bangladesh, Dhaka Reproduction Documentation and Publication Wing, BBS. 4. SCC (2005), "Status Report of Sylhet City Corporation", Sylhet, Bangladesh. 5. Banik, B. K. "Evaluation of Traffic Congestion in Sylhet city and a Development of Mathematical Model". B. Sc. Engg. Thesis, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh, 2005. 6. Ortuzar, J. De and Willumsen, L.G. "Transport Modeling". J. Wiley & Sons Ltd., USA., 1995. 7. Habib, K.M.N. "Evaluation of Planning Options to

Area (sq. km) 0.95 1 0.92 0.94 0.93 0.95 0.92 0.97 1 0.9 0.88 0.91 0.9 0.9 0.92 0.97 0.94 0.9 0.92 0.93 0.94 0.95 0.96 0.93 1.35 1.35 1.37 26.5

Population 17990 17972 19742 16999 17743 17420 19479 19925 19925 17975 18417 19925 19720 17440 19421 16964 17842 19405 16842 17577 19720 15875 18981 15342 20443 23472 25950 508506

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, January-March 2009

STUDY OF TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN SYLHET CITY

85

Table A2 Zone wise automobile ownership Zone 1 2 3 4 5 Automobile 1356 1313 700 1574 752

TRAFFIC SURVEY DATA SHEET INTERSECTION VOLUE COUNT AREA CHARACTERISTICS Location: Time: Approach: Date:
Vehicle type Left Rickshaw Direction of travel Through Right Total

N.B.: Estimated (Based on household interview)

Bi-cycle

Table A3 Equivalency factors for different types of vehicles (IRC)

Serial No. Vehicle type 1 Passenger car, tempo, auto rickshaw or agricultural tractor, 2 3 4 5 6 Cycle, motorcycle or scooter Truck, bus or agricultural tractor-trailer unit Cycle rickshaw Horse-drawn vehicle Bullock cart Small Big
Source: Indian Road Congress (IRC)

Rickshaw van

Equivalency factor 1.0 Bullock carts 0.5 3.0 1.5 4.0 6.0 8.0 Truck Car/Taxi Push carts

Table A4 Flow capacity of urban roads recommended by IRC (Indian Road Congress)
Traffic flow capacity in PCU per hour for traffic condition No. of traffic Roads with no Roads ways with Roads with free lanes and width Way frontage access, frontage access and frontages access no standing high capacity parking vehicles vehicles, very intersection and heavy cross little cross traffic traffic Two lane (7 7.5 m) One 2400 Two lane Two 1500 1500 2500 2500 2100 3000 2500 4200 1200 750 2000 1600 2400 2000 3600

Buses

Minibuses

Motor cycle

Three lane (10.5 m) One 3600 Three lane Four lane (14 m) Four lane Six lane (21 m) Two 3000 One 4800 Two 4000 Two 6000

Baby taxi/Tempo

Other

Total

Source: Indian Road Congress (IRC)

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, January-March 2009

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BANIK, CHOWHURY & SARKAR ON STUDY OF TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN SYLHET CITY

TRAFFIC SURVEY DATA SHEET LINK VOLUME COUNT DIRECTION OF TRAVEL: Date: Location: Time:
TIME

TRAFFIC SURVEY DATA SHEET LINK VOLUME COUNT DIRECTION OF TRAVEL: DATE: Location: Time:
TIME

(MOTORIZED)

(NON-MOTORIZED)

Vehicle Type
Car/Taxi

Rickshaw
Truck

Bi-cycle

Buses

Rick-shaw Van
Minibuses

Bullock Cart
Motor-cycle

Push Cart

Baby Taxi/tampo

Other
Other

Total

Total

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, January-March 2009