A little butter for our traffic jams

Lionel WIJESIRI

A law of economics states that demand always expands beyond the supply of free goods to cause queues. There is no better illustration of this law than the traffic congestion in virtually every major city in our country and also in many smaller cities. During much of the day, traffic moves slowly not only in Colombo, Kandy, Kurunegala and many other cities, but also in suburb and urban towns.

Traffic congestion in our metropolitan areas, particularly Colombo city, has worsened steadily over the past two and a half decades. According to Dr. Saman Widanapathiranage, an engineering consultant to the National Transport Commission, about 200,000 vehicles daily enter the Colombo city by six major roads and bring over 750,000 passengers. Of them 75% travel to the city for work or business purposes from Colombo's suburban areas.

Many city roads with increasing traffic demand for road space is clearly seen to have reached critical proportions. For example, he says, the Havelock Road at Thunmulla, CWW Kannangara Mawatha at Lipton Circus, Baseline Road at Borella, Galle Road at Bambalapitiya, Armour Street at Maradana and D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha have recorded daily two way traffic flow of over 40,000 vehicles per day.

Sources

These facts reveal that there is growing evidence that this congestion, once considered merely a nuisance and an unpleasant side effect of modernization, is now going beyond control. Is there anything we could do to contain this menace? Local City planners have identified a number of sources of congestion. 1. Bottlenecks - these are the points where the roadway narrows or regular traffic demands cause traffic to backup and the largest source of congestion. 2. Traffic incidents - crashes, stalled vehicles, debris on the road. These are estimated to cause about 1/4 of congestion problems. 3. Work zones - for new road building and maintenance activities like filling potholes-are caused by necessary activities. The amount of congestion caused by these actions can be reduced by a variety of strategies. 4. Bad weather - This is a phenomenon which cannot be controlled, but travellers can be notified of the potential for increased congestion. 5. Poor traffic signal timing - the faulty operation of traffic signals or green/red lights where the time allocation for a road does not match the volume on that road - are a source of congestion on major and minor streets. 6. Special events cause "spikes" in traffic volumes and changes in traffic patterns.

These irregularities either cause delay on days, times or locations where there usually is none, or add to regular congestion problem. However, success against congestion requires not only attacking it on multiple fronts with strategies but also cooperation between public transportation authorities, public institutions, businesses, and the public. Since we are all affected by congestion, it is important that we all work together to address the congestion problem.

Here are some ways all of us can collectively collaborate to mitigate congestion.

1. Take Ownership

The first step is for all of us to recognize we have a stake in the congestion problem. Public transport is in the business of serving customers the same way that any private firm is - except that the customers (the public and businesses) are buying efficient and safe travel. The public, elected officials, and businesses are more than just consumers - they are shareholders too.

2. Identify Where the Congestion Problems and Opportunities are

Both technical analyses and anecdotal information from the public are useful in identifying where the major congestion problems currently are and what causes them. Planners should discuss where the problems are likely to occur in the next five, 10, and 20 years. The existing transportation planning process in metropolitan areas can be tapped as a resource for this purpose. Finally, planners should provide realistic assessments on what can reasonably be done in each case, and what the expected improvements might be.

3. Develop Plans, Programs, Policies, and Projects Solutions

All these should effectively address congestion and can take a variety of forms. Transportation engineers and planners in developed countries have adapted a variety of plans and programs to deal with congestion.

Basically, all these fall into two general categories:

1. Adding more capacity - Increasing the number and size of roads and providing more transit and freight rail Service. Adding more lanes to existing roads and building new ones has been the traditional response to congestion. In some metropolitan areas, however, it is becoming increasingly difficult to undertake major road expansions because of funding constraints, increased right-of-way and construction costs, and opposition from local and national groups. However, it is clear that adding new physical capacity for roads, highways, transit, and railroads is an important strategy for alleviating congestion.

2. Operating Existing Capacity more efficiently - This means getting more out of what we already have. In recent years, transportation engineers and planners have increasingly embraced strategies that deal with the operation of existing roads and highways, rather than just building new infrastructure. The philosophy behind Transportation System Management and Operations (TSM&O) is to mitigate the effects of a wide variety of roadway events and to manage short-term demand for existing roadway capacity. TSM&O includes the application of advanced technologies using real-time information about road conditions to implement control strategies and control strategies take many forms, such as dynamically retiming traffic signals, managing traffic flow during incidents, electronic screening of trucks, and providing travellers with information about travel conditions, alternative routes, and other mode

While all these are attended to, we must also understand that population and economic growth spur travel demand, which, in the absence of other travel options, results in disproportionate increases in the use of motor vehicles. Cities exist because they promote social interactions and economic transactions.

Traffic congestion occurs where lots of people pursue these ends simultaneously in limited spaces. Culturally and economically vibrant cities have the worst congestion problems, while declining and depressed cities don't have much traffic. By most estimates, New York and Tokyo are the world's most congested cities. But if you want access to major brokerage houses or live theatre, you will find them easier to reach in congested New York than in any other metropolitan area.

So the moral of the story is no matter what public policies are adopted in response to future traffic congestion, it is likely to get worse in nearly all parts of the country. So the saner advice is: Get accustomed to it.

In short, learn to treat being stuck in traffic as part of your normal leisure life, because it's here to stay.