Charting a way out of traffic congestion

The traffic congestion affecting our roads can be minimized to a great extent by paying attention to the key core and ancillary components like parking, road improvement, traffic lights, rules, human resources, dedicated lanes, scheduling and moral responsibility.

Ample parking space for staff as well as visitors must be made a precondition for establishment and operation of organizations and other infrastructure like public/private offices, hospitals and clinics, malls, educational institutions and sports complexes. The parking spaces set aside in the approved design for construction should be used exclusively for parking only. Roads are not meant for parking vehicles and taxis looking for passengers should be allowed to park on taxi stands only. This will ultimately lead to the development of taxi stands and private parking spaces at different locations.      

Improvement in road safety management practices is a continuing process. Traffic signs should be placed in such a way that they are distinctly visible. Pedestrians should have unhindered access to wide sidewalks/footpaths. Furthermore, relevant agencies should install reflectors at blind turns and repaint the road lanes from time to time to minimize traffic rule violations resulting from faded paints. 

 Traffic lights are the most important element for regulating vehicular movement on the road. This system works automatically as set up at the time of installation in terms of timing of the gap rotation and the direction to stop and move with the turning of lights. So, the electric traffic light system, already installed and used at different intersections and other vulnerable points, must be in operation throughout the day and night. As such, other crowded intersections should also have the system of electric traffic lights and signals/signs for a smooth traffic movement. The manual traffic regulatory clearance during the day time should be avoided as much as possible at crossings where traffic lights have already been installed.

For regulating road traffic, several traffic rules and regulations have already been enforced. Road traffic will be quite chaotic if any number of vehicles are allowed to ply without taking the carrying capacity of the road into account. Violators of traffic rules and regulations should be penalized without let or hindrance. The practice of booking in case of violations and imposing penalties, including impounding of licenses/orientation classes, should be continued. Moreover, pedestrians must be given orientation to cross the road by following traffic signs and lights.

 Police officers must be deployed in required numbers at busy intersections for effective enforcement of traffic rules and regulation and for streamlining road traffic with limited infrastructure. In the absence of electric traffic lights and overhead bridges or underpasses, the pedestrian has no option but to cross the road through zebra crossing. In many cases, pedestrians unaware of such rules end up blocking traffic by daring to cross the road haphazardly. 

 Instances of straight-moving vehicles occupying the free left lane have become an everyday affair in Kathmandu. All buses and three-wheelers must stop only at dedicated stops, only for embarkation and disembarkation for a smooth vehicular movement. 

Depending upon the availability of four or more lanes along some roads like Ring Road, one lane can be designated for specified vehicles mentioned above. The dedicated lane would be a faster lane as only one type of vehicle (say car/microbus) carrying more than one occupant can use it. This is a good approach to discourage single-driven cars. Some offices may even be tempted to provide such services to their staff.

Every vehicle owner/driver should primarily understand and realize his/her moral responsibility to abide by traffic rules and regulations. Also, it is always better to educate oneself first rather than asking others to follow. 

 Apart from traffic police and road users, authorities like city councils and municipalities can play a vital role in effective traffic management by declaring crowded marketplaces, historic monuments and cultural heritage sites like Ason, Indra Chowk and Durbar Squares, which draw a large number of visitors, no-vehicle areas. Such a move will also help in the preservation of heritages by curbing pollution.

Entry fees should be collected from vehicles entering crowded areas like New Road to discourage the use of vehicles in such areas. The weekly holiday (Saturday) and other public holidays should be declared pedestrians’ days by prohibiting the entry of vehicles on busy areas like New Road and Durbarmarg. Vehicles with odd and even registration numbers may be allowed to ply on alternate days to curb congestion.

The way forward

Several countries have taken the above-mentioned measures to deal with traffic congestion. They have also developed mass transit systems like bus rapid transit (BRT) and ropeways/cable cars for the same. In the case of ropeways and cars, many cities have built infrastructure like towers and stations along river banks. This means not having to foot exorbitant costs for land pooling. Relevant authorities can replicate this in the Kathmandu Valley, which is home to rivers like Bagmati and Bishnumati, and help preserve the aesthetic, cultural and historic components of the Bagmati civilization.  

The author is a former Executive Director, Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board. He can be reached at [email protected]

This is part II of a two-part series