Hyderabad: The Karkhana road is the most congested stretch in the city during peak hours, found a joint study conducted by researchers from BITS Pilani, Hyderabad, and NIT Durgapur.
Themed ‘Traffic congestion assessment tool for urban roads based on traffic and geometric characteristics: A Case of Hyderabad, India’, the study findings have been published in the Journal of Transportation Engineering Systems. The American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) developed a travel time congestion index (TTCI) that can estimate the level of traffic congestion along various corridors and help identify the cause.
TTCI was developed by employing traffic geometric and land use parameters to measure congestion along the roadways on the urban road network. Using the developed index, various stakeholders involved in town planning and traffic management can develop effective mitigation measures that can reduce traffic congestion to a great extent and improve urban traffic networks. The study indicated that providing grade-separated intersections reduces traffic congestion to a great extent.
The study team comprised Bandhan Bandhu Majumdar (NIT Durgapur), and Naveed Farooz Marazi, Prasanta K. Sahu, Subhashree Panda and Siddardha Koramati (all BITS Pilani, Hyderabad).
“The first of its kind study has been formulated for Indian traffic conditions. The findings are in line with the field conditions,” assistant professor Majumdar told Deccan Chronicle.
The study also proposes using TTCI values to design the cordon lines for delaminating congestion zones and estimating the level of service of the roadway. It found that traffic signs and information ahead of intersections and diversions reduce chances of confusion among the drivers, thereby reducing congestion. Public transport services need to be improved to reduce the number of private cars in the city limits, which is another effective measure towards solving the congestion problem. Movements of trucks and trailers should be restricted during peak hours as they cause speed variation due to a phenomenon called elephant racing.
Congestion pricing is advocated for the central business district area to reduce the number of cars plying on the roads. Having grades and grade-separated pedestrian crossings near hospitals, schools and government offices can reduce traffic congestion to significant levels, suggested the study, which was done in collaboration with Cardiff and New Castle University UK and supported by Hyderabad traffic police.
The study, conducted for the period from 2015-2019 covered, 20 police stations in the city based on crash data
The 10 roads that were used for validation of developed models:
1. Karkhana road (Karkhana PS)
2. M.G. road (Ramgopalpet PS)
3. Panjagutta-Khairatabad (Panjagutta PS)
4. St. Johns road (Gopalapuram, PS)
5. Chikkadpally (Chikkadpally PS)
6. Road No.2, Kaifi Azmi road (Banjara Hills PS)
7. Kavadiguda (Gandhinagar PS)
8. Road No.2, LV Prasad marg (Jubilee Hills PS)
9. Road No.1 (Banjara Hills PS)
10. AG office road (Saifabad PS)
