ENV 102 T (WORLD GEOGRAPHY TUTORIAL)

SECTION 1

ASSIGNMENT
AUTUMN 2021
ON

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT IN CHATTOGRAM

SUBMITTED BY:

MD NIZAM UDDIN MUNNA, ID#17101032

DATE OF SUBMISSION:08/12/2021

CIU BUSINESS SCHOOL (CIUBS)

CHITTAGONG INDEPENDENT UNIVERSITY (CIU)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT 3
INTRODUCTION 3
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT IN CHITTAGONG CITY 4
DISCUSSION 9
REFERENCES 11
ABSTRACT

Chittagong City's transportation crisis has been steadily developing over the previous few years.
The purpose of this research is to examine current traffic congestion in the city of Chittagong's
major transportation arteries. The traffic research was carried out on the five most important
intersections (Tigerpass, Agrabad, Barik Building, Nimtola, and CEPZ), taking into account their
commercial significance and traffic movement. According to observations of operational
conditions, the route is constantly subjected to unconstrained movements of pedestrians,
motorized and non-motorized vehicles. According to the estimated Annual Average Daily
Traffic (AADT) data, the greatest peak period traffic flow at the Agrabad crossroads is greater
than 4000 PCU/Hour, indicating an overloaded road. According to the journey speed research,
the average travel speed on the selected roadway is approximately 10 to 15 K.P.H. throughout
the day, decreasing below 10 K.P.H. during peak hours, indicating significant congestion. The
traffic capacity analysis of the existing roadway revealed that the traffic capacity of the roadway
is less than the current demand at significant survey locations and that the existing traffic flow
provides a level of service.
INTRODUCTION

Urbanization is a worldwide phenomenon. It is occurring at a faster rate in the world's least

developed countries, such as Bangladesh. Bangladesh's rapid and ongoing urbanization has
resulted in acute traffic congestion and unprecedented demands on infrastructure and service
provision inside the country's urban centers. With 993 persons per square kilometer, Bangladesh
is the world's most densely populated country.  Bangladesh, like other countries throughout the
world, is dealing with a severe traffic crisis that is worsening by the day. It is quickly becoming
one of the country's most unacceptable and burning issues. The traffic problem has evolved into
a very dangerous arena, with terrible consequences in Bangladesh's cities. Traffic management is
a typical occurrence in practically all of Bangladesh's cities. Limited resources invested in the
development of transportation facilities, rapid population growth, limited space available for new
roads, rapid rise in transport demand, existence of a large number of non-motorized vehicles on
roads, and a lack of application of adequate and proper traffic management schemes are causing
severe transportation problems in almost all of Bangladesh's urban areas. Chittagong, with an
estimated population of 4.1 million in an area of 177 square kilometers, is located in
Bangladesh's southeastern coastal region, which puts the city at risk of dangerous natural
environmental disasters such as storms, cyclones flash floods, landslides caused by heavy rainfall
,and earthquakes, which kill many people almost every year.

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT IN CHITTAGONG CITY

The port city of Chattogram is severely congested. Except on Fridays and Saturdays, the working
environment is awful. Even at the wee hours of the morning, traffic jams can be seen. An elderly
university professor claimed that his own automobile took 70 minutes to reach Nasirabad
Housing in Sholashahar from his office in Agrabad Southland Centre, despite the fact that the
distance was only six kilometers after 8 p.m. on the CDA Avenue. Crossing the distance on foot
takes anyone 75 minutes.
Despite the fact that buses and minibuses serve as the primary form of intra-city and inter-
regional transportation in the city, they lack a dedicated bus lane. According to a poll, pedal
rickshaws, the slowest mode of transport that can only carry two passengers, occupy 43% of the
road, three-wheeler vehicles 39%, buses and mini-buses 8.0 to 11%, and cars 11% to 20% of the
overall volume of traffic.
At times, traffic cops cause traffic bottlenecks by stopping automobiles in the middle of the road,
ostensibly to earn a few more dollars. City commuters suffer the most during rush hour in the
morning, when transport availability remains a concern.
When traffic cops stop vehicles in the middle of the road, ostensibly to earn a few extra dollars,
they cause traffic jams. City commuters suffer the most during morning rush hour, when bus
availability remains an issue.
At times, traffic cops cause traffic bottlenecks by stopping automobiles in the middle of the road,
ostensibly to earn a few more dollars. City commuters suffer the most during rush hour in the
morning, when transport availability remains a concern.
There are 16 routes in the city for tempos, people haulers, minibuses, and buses, with vehicles
ranging from 300 to 1200 depending on the number of passengers listed with the Bangladesh
Road Transport Authority (BRTA). However, neither the BRTA management nor the traffic
department of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) are concerned about commuters'
misery. When asked, traffic officials stated that drivers of public buses and human carriers have
the right to operate the vehicles whenever they choose, as well as the right to go on hire for
carrying owners of garment and other enterprises. The mobile courts frequently cause traffic
disruptions as passenger buses flee the streets to avoid fines or seizures.
The CDA has built four flyovers and overpasses at busy city intersections, however the
inhabitants have yet to profit from the infrastructure because the flyovers are only used by a tiny
number of cars and auto-rickshaws. Passenger buses, minibuses, human transporters, and tempos
avoid them because there are no facilities for passengers to get on and off the vehicles while
traveling on the flyovers.
Passengers utilizing the Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport are routinely
inconvenienced due to a lack of passenger transportation. The CDA has embarked on a large
elevated expressway project for Tk 28.00 billion. The project from Lalkhan Bazaar to the Airport
is currently being implemented. The expressway will connect Lalkhan Bazaar to Muradpur and
Bahaddarhat via the existing Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury Flyover.
However, the idea is being opposed by city planners from the private sector organisation Forum
for Planned Chittagong (EPC). The FPC leaders described the road as unplanned, claiming that
construction of the expressway, which was anticipated to cost Tk 28 billion, was conducted only
for roughly 200 very important persons (VIPs) and commercially important persons (CIPs).
Once the flyover is built, future Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)
developments would be hampered, and there will be no other option than to demolish it to make
room. They encouraged the authorities to estimate how many travelers will utilize the freeway.
The FPC, chaired by East Delta University Vice Chancellor Professor Sikandar Khan, a senior
economist, proposed building a separate bus road beside the current CDA Avenue instead of the
expressway. They requested authorities to discourage the use of personal and private vehicles on
the roadways in order to alleviate acute traffic congestion in the city. They claimed that there are
no BRTC-run public buses in the city. Accountability should be established for the BRTC office
in Chattogram. Dhaka has hundreds of BRTC buses, including double-deckers, but the second
largest city, which is also a port city, lacks public buses. The city's residents might profit greatly
from the city's state-run buses.
Professor Ali Ashraf, the pro-vice chancellor of Southern University Bangladesh and the head of
the civil engineering department, has spent a long time working on city planning,
environmentally friendly and healthy city development projects, road infrastructure, flood
control, and arsenic contamination. He devised a number of solutions to the city's traffic
problems. He stated that the long-term solution would be the implementation of the BRT system.
Engineer Ashraf stated that a parallel new road on the current CDA Avenue along the north-
south alignment on the west of the CDA Avenue from Bahaddarhat to Patenga will relieve traffic
congestion in the city for an estimated cost of Tk 6.25 to 7.50 billion. Along with road building,
the government might use a large area for future projects. The CDA Avenue remains the
commercial capital's principal roadway. In the CDA's 1995 Master Plan, there are ideas for two
such alternative roadways on the east and west sides of CDA Avenue. Furthermore, the
government might incorporate the ring roads in the BRT system to make the Fouzderhat-Patenga
and Sadarghat-Kalurghat sections more popular for traffic.
The commuter train system can be introduced on the Bangladesh Railway East's long-neglected
Chattogram-Dohazari and Chattogram-Nazirhat branch lines by improving the railway tracks so
that thousands of people coming to the city from south and north Chattogram to attend offices
and other purposes can easily return home without having to stay in the city every day.
Thousands of individuals traveled to the city from villages on a daily basis in the 1960s and
1970s to attend offices and return home.
Another possibility is to use the railway track that runs from the Chittagong Dry Dock to the
Kalurghat Bridge across the Karnaphuli River. Most of the railroad has been sitting dormant for
decades. This railway track can be repaired and renovated at a low cost, and the rail line can be
used to introduce a metro rail system. He stated that the railway authorities may perform a
feasibility study on the subject.
The CDA planning department is now working on a strategic urban transport master plan for
Chattogram City, which will identify projects and policies to implement short, medium, and
long-term strategies to alleviate road traffic congestion. The CDA is conducting a World Bank-
funded technical assistance study on the Chattogram Strategic Urban Transport Master Plan
(SUTMP), which is nearing completion. Two World Bank-affiliated consulting firms, e.Gen
Consultants Ltd and Integrated Transport Planning Ltd, are nearing completion of a research
targeted at resolving current transportation issues.
The Chittagong Development Authority which is in charge of road development and widening in
the city, has undertaken a big campaign to widen and build roads as well as three flyovers. The
campaign began in 2009, when Chittagong City Awami League leader Abdus Salam was named
Chairman. However, the scenario remains the least improved because there is no urban traffic
strategy for transportation regulation. The highway system is both chaotic and anarchic. Another
key issue to notice here is that the CDA's flyovers and overpasses are found to be of little utility
because public transportation does not use them due to a lack of entrance and exit facilities for
passengers at busy and critical traffic junctions.
Insufferable traffic bottlenecks on the port city's main roadways have made citizens' lives
unpleasant in Chittagong. The city's traffic system has already collapsed because vehicles cannot
run on the city's main roads due to congestion (The Independent, 2011); particularly the female,
elderly, and school-going students have been facing serious problems as a result of traffic jams
caused by disorderly movement of vehicles. Despite traffic authorities' efforts, the city's major
thoroughfares remain congested. The main causes of traffic congestion are a complicated
combination of traffic and vehicle concentration, a lack of suitable public transportation,
inadequate road infrastructure, faulty signaling equipment, and poor enforcement of traffic
regulations.
Although traffic rules and traffic police are assigned to govern the traffic system, rickshaws and
auto rickshaws primarily violate red lights, and signal lights at most busy intersections have been
out of commission for an extended period of time. Furthermore, the city is home to a large
number of light and medium-scale industrial activities, in addition to the CEPZ. As a result, a
considerable number of people migrate from nearby villages to the city on a daily basis in search
of work and food. The majority of them worked as Rickshaw pullers, with the remainder
engaged in port and other businesses. As a result of the port city's ever-growing population and
traffic, traffic congestion is increasing day by day.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

According to the findings of the current study, traffic congestion in Chittagong Metropolitan City
has become a severe issue that contributes to traffic congestion. The causes of traffic congestion
and the consequences that have resulted in the city system cannot be handled separately. Because
Chittagong's structure and concentration of activity are changing drastically, there is a
concentration of traffic in this city. The majority of respondents believe that unlawful parking is
the primary cause of traffic congestion in this city. Chittagong city is highly urbanized, although
there has been little area expansion due to a high rate of rural-to-urban migration as a result of
increased urban population in this metropolis. Migrants typically work in a variety of informal
jobs such as rickshaw puller, day laborer, truck driver, CNG driver, tempo driver, and helper.
These individuals are unaware of traffic laws, rules, and regulations. On the other hand, an
unplanned road network and an increase in the number of vehicles of all classes is another cause
of traffic congestion, as is an unplanned market, shopping mall, educational institute, and lack of
management such as neglect of the traffic police duty, fault signal system, and not a combination
of traffic related origination (CCC, CDA, CMP, and BRTC & BRTA). Now is the moment for
integrated transportation system planning, implementation, and management. To alleviate traffic
congestion, drivers, passengers, and pedestrians should be attentive. Following such procedures
can assist authorities in providing comprehensive management and reducing the pain of city
people due to traffic congestion. As a result, the following precise proposals for alleviating
traffic congestion in Chittagong city are provided:
  Because urbanization is the primary driver of traffic congestion, creating rural economic
possibilities minimizes rural urban migration.
 Modernization of urban transportation, as well as trained drivers and helpers, reduces
traffic congestion because educated traffic personnel and contemporary vehicles lessen
traffic congestion.
 Respecting traffic laws is important since it aids in the control of over speeding,
overtaking, being overweight, having too many passengers, and using the signal system.
 To take traffic road management authority efforts, such as building a bridge and
controlling trucks and rickshaws.
 Different types of automobiles (i.e. truck, lorry and covered van) should move after 8pm
to 6 am.
 To limit the use of personal automobiles for public transportation, double dicker and
larger passenger automobiles are being developed.
 Pedestrians should use the walkway, zebra crossings, pass over bridges, and obey traffic
signals and laws.
 It helps to minimize traffic congestion by combining the efforts of several traffic-related
authorities (e.g., CCC, CMP, CDA, BRTA, and BRTC).
 To develop the hawker market because it minimizes the number of hawkers and other
merchants on the road.
 To build urban employment sectors for rootless people because rootless individuals are
one of the key causes of traffic congestion.
 Unnecessary islands on the route are removed.
 Plan ahead of time to develop a school, a college, a market, and a shopping mall, as well
as a bypass route near the institution.

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