sustainable solutions of transportation problems in mirpur area, dhaka, bangladesh
DESCRIPTION
Mirpur area, Roundabout, Foot over bridge, Public transport, Congestion, SafetyTRANSCRIPT
(Manuscript No: I12528-04)
April 15, 2012 / Accepted: April 21, 2012
1
SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS OF
TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS IN
MIRPUR AREA, DHAKA, BANGLADESH
Shohana Iffat*
She is now a lecturer of Ahsanllah University of Science & Technology,
Department of Civil and Transportation Engineering
BUET, Bangladesh.
(Email: [email protected])
Abstract - Mirpur Thana of Dhaka city has been divided into the three thanas of Shah Ali, Pallabi and Kafrul.
There are several problems on transport appears in this area. Congestions due to heavy volume of rickshaw
mainly near Mirpur 1 and Mirpur 10 roundabout intersection mainly at peak hours particularly from 8.30 to 9.30
am and from 5.00 to 6.00 pm. Mirpur 10 roundabout is a physical but not operational roundabout. At Mirpur 10
intersection there is a grade separated pedestrian crossing (FOB) but pedestrians does not use it properly. There
is hand operated system available which cause a huge congestion and also due to illegal pedestrian crossing at
this point accident is also common. Many of the express buses leave the city from Kalyanpur. So a huge amount
of congestion occurs after Kalyanpur to Gabtoly. Lack of sufficient public transport facilities and poor
scheduling is a great problem observed at Mirpur area. Improper loading unloading of passengers occur by
public transports because of lack of stoppages. Several places in footpaths are occupied by hawkers and also
there is no safe movement opportunity for disable people. Some possible solutions of these problems can be
done by Traffic Management, Transit Management, Demand Management and Restraint Measures. There are
also a huge amount of safety problems in this area. So, road safety engineering strategies should be adopted to
ensure safety of passengers and also pedestrians. In this paper some sustainable solutions about the
transportation system management and safety concern will be discussed.
Keywords: Mirpur area, Roundabout, Foot over bridge, Public transport, Congestion, Safety.
Introduction
Land Transport promotes and supports the installation and use of area-wide traffic control systems. Most
systems include both state highway and local road traffic signal installation. Geometry and pavements shall be
constructed in accordance with Land Transport Standards and guidelines manual. Traffic signal installations
must be in accordance with Land Transport Standards and guidelines manual.
A. AREA DESCRIPTION
Mirpur is located at 23.8042°N 90.3667°E. It has a total area of 58.66 km2 (22.65 sq mi). It is situated at north-
east of Dhaka city. According to the 2000 census of Bangladesh, Mirpur had a population of 1,074,232, of
which males constitute 54.15% and females 45.85%. Recently Mirpur Thana has been divided into the three
thanas of Shah Ali, Pallabi and Kafrul.
B. EXISTING PROBLEMS
Mirpur area contains a lot of shopping centres, hospitals, educational institutes, highway bus stoppages,
amusement places and so on. Some notable institutions are National Heart Foundation Institute, Grameen Bank,
Ibne Sina Hospital, Prince Bazar, Mukto Bangla Shopping Mall, Mukti jodhdha Shopping Mall, Mirpur Butic
House, Benarorsi Palli, Mirpur Bangla College, Mirpur University College, Mirpur zoo, Botanical garden etc.
International Journal Of Structronics & Mechatronics
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System Model and Problem Definition
Congestion due to heavy volume of rickshaw mainly near Mirpur 1 and Mirpur 10 roundabout intersection
mainly at peak hours particularly from 8.30 to 9.30 am and from 5.00 to 6.00 pm.
Mirpur 10 roundabout is a physical but not operational roundabout. So traffic signal is present here and
due to malfunctioning of this signal a huge amount of congestion occurs at peak hours. Also traffic police
is presented there and hand used signal maintenance is also available which is an illegal method against
basic concept of round about intersection.
At Mirpur 10 intersection there is a grade separated pedestrian crossing (FOB) but pedestrians does not use
it properly. So accident occurs frequently. Though there are picket rail (pedestrian barrier) provided to
prevent illegal pedestrian crossing at the junction but it ends very near to the intersection. So pedestrian
frequently cross the road at the intersection point avoiding using FOB.
Figure 1 Mirpur 10 intersection
At Mirpur 10 intersection, in peak hours especially from 7.30 AM to 9.30 AM huge amount of delay is
produced for the vehicles from Mirpur 1 to Rokeya Soroni (right turning vehicles) because less priority is
given to these vehicle. But actual amount of traffic in this direction is larger than other directions. In order
to re-cover this delay vehicle turns at highest speed and collision occurs often.
Other Problems
Improper loading unloading of passengers by public transports because of lack of stoppages.
Huge number of garments factory has been built-up in this area. So in peak hour great amount of congestion
taken place. Also amount of pedestrian traffic is very high at that time due to garments workers. So
pedestrian crossing at that time is a great problem.
Building up of markets at Mirpur 1 intersection. The customers park their private vehicle beside the road
due to lack of parking facilities and congestion occurs.
Figure 2 Markets at Mirpur
Shohana Iffat
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Another problem is that due to presence of Mirpur sher e Bangla cricket stadium, during cricket matches
congestion occurs in this zone.
In between Mirpur 1 to 10 the footpaths are occupied by hawkers mainly earthen goods sellers and there is
also a nursery of flowers is on that footpath. So pedestrian movement is hampered due to these problems.
Sustainable Solutions
A. TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
As Mirpur 10 roundabout is a physical but not operational roundabout and traffic signal is present here and
due to malfunctioning of this signal a huge amount of congestion occurs at peak hours. So improvement of
this intersection is essential. Grade separated roundabout or other grade separated interchange facility
should be constructed there. But as it is a five legged intersection so grade separated roundabout is the best
solution for this intersection because signal system improvement might give no proper solution to this
problem.
Channelization and installation of exclusive right turn and left turn lane is essential at all the intersection
approaches.
Especially an exclusive right turn lane is necessary.
Introducing proper public transport facility is essential. Mainly it is urgent to improve existing services
instead of introducing new service.
Bus services should be provided for the garments workers by each garments factory.
Improvement of existing public bus service schedules is necessary. Also proper bus stoppage with
appropriate loading unloading facility is needed to construct.
Signal priority for buses have to be ensured
Improvement of existing signals at all intersection is necessary. Also new signal is need to introduce at
Kalyanpur and Mirpur 1.
Ramp controlling can be initialized by ramp metering specially at Rokeya Sarani where there is a number of
access road entry in the main road.
Segregated bus lane is needed to introduce. It is very much essential for the traffic coming from Mirpur 11
to Mirpur 10 intersection because volume of mixed traffic is higher in this route and also the amount of
public transport users are highest.
Bus lay by is needed at every stoppage for proper loading unloading of passenger in a safer way and also
reduce congestion due to improper loading unloading at any points.
Reversible lanes can be introduced for the traffic coming from Mirpur 1 to Mirpur 10 because peak volume
in one direction is very much higher than the other direction.
HOV can be introduced with High Occupancy vehicles. Mainly High Occupancy vehicle can be used for
carrying the garments workers and the office going people. Also the office company and schools have to
provide separate bus for their own people to reduce congestion in peak hours.
Proper use of footpaths have to be ensured by hawkers removal and also repairing the necessary spaces.
Repairing existing footpaths are necessary.
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Removal of rickshaw is very much essential from major roads of this zone. But as in Mirpur amount of
middle and low income people is very high and their main transport mode is rickshaw so rickshaw remove
will not become fruitful for this area.
Bicycle lane or bike path is necessary to build instead of rickshaw removal. Because when people could be
able to use bicycle or bike safely and comfortably they will replace rickshaw by default and congestion will
automatically reduce. But as sufficient ground space is not available, so grade separated bicycle path/lane
should be constructed
Fleet improvement is necessary. That means the time interval between the arrivals of buses of each bus
company is needed to improve. Fleet monitoring and maintenance is also essential.
Park and ride facilities need to introduce for the people coming from other area to Mirpur for job, shopping
and other purposes.
B. TRANSIT MANAGEMENT
Bus routing and scheduling: Buses of whole Mirpur area should have to maintain a proper schedule and
should move on the proper routes.
Bus signal priority: Should have to provide to promote public transport services.
Express bus service: Need to introduce.
Fare collection and integration: It should be carefully monitored by an authority.
Fleet management, monitoring and maintenance: Need to improve as early as possible.
Intermodal Coordination: Need proper transfer facilities between one transport system to another.
Park and ride facilities: Very much essential mainly for the market places, offices and schools.
C. DEMAND MANAGEMENT
Before any transport demand management, rail freight and sea freight activity is submitted for financial
assistance, there must be an agreement in writing between the parties receiving the benefits that all parties will
contribute their proportion of the total cost. Financial assistance for new rail freight and sea freight activities
will be based on the proportion of expected benefits identified in the evaluation. These benefits will be allocated
to the parties receiving those benefits.
The necessary demand management steps for Mirpur area are for:
Rickshaw is a not valid Para-transit which causes a huge amount of congestion. So rickshaw removal is
necessary from main roads of Mirpur area (between Mirpur 1 and 10 no intersection).
Should provide sufficient rickshaws at the accessory roads.
Car pool, Van pool, Shared taxi system etc have to be introduced to reduce transport demand
Staggered shift of school and office hour can be introduced
E-commuting, E-commerce and E-billings can be introduced.
D. RESTRAINT MEASURES
Markets have to be removed from Mirpur 1 intersection. If market removal is not possible then curb
parking restriction is necessary to introduce there.
Shohana Iffat
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Parking charge is required for curb parking
Loading/unloading restriction and facilities
Truck routes
Peak hr restriction
The express buses should not be allowed to enter into the city. They should be leave from the Gabtoly
terminal only.
Conclusion
Area wide traffic management improves the road way capacity of that particular area and at the same time
combining all areas improvement measures, the capacity of the whole country increases, congestion reduces and
as a result economic growth improves and condition of living for the people improves. So it is very much
essential for our country Bangladesh which is a developing country with huge amount of congestion and other
transport related problems.
References
1. Traffic Engineering, Roger P. Roess, Chapter 26-Arterial Planning & Management.
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_traffic_safety
3. http://www.smartmovez.org.nz/references/refs/manuals/programme_and_funding_manual/programme_and
_funding_manual_-_ch_4_specific_determinations/2