Temporal Change in Traffic Congestion Pattern of the Intersection at Lucknow Smart City Using Geospatial Technology

Abstract

Traffic congestion is the most common problem in an urban area. The presence of various facilities or intersections of major as well as minor roads can cause hindrance in the path. Congestion on the intersection, near the markets, government offices, etc. can cause problems in the free flow of traffic at an intersection. Road connectivity is also affected due to the presence of congestion on the routes. Traffic congestion varies as time passes, due to an increase in illegal parking, unauthorized vending sites, unauthorized stoppage points for transit vehicles, accidents, etc. therefore there is a change in the traffic pattern at the intersection which affects the public.

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

The efficiency of an urban area is due to the efficiency of the roads as well as the public facilities around it. Intersections are the points where more than two roads meet. Junctions/intersections are the connecting points of the city. As these are the connecting points of the city there is the requirement of proper traffic management. Traffic congestion is caused due to a lack of proper management at the junction. Causes of congestion can be haphazard parking of vehicles, faulty intersections, absence of strict enforcement of traffic rules, unplanned movement of vehicles, etc.

Some of the disadvantages of congestion are

1. Emission of harmful gases from the vehicles.
2. Waste of time and fuel of the public
3. Probability of accidents is increased etc.

Throughout the day traffic pattern changes which depend on various factors like office hours at the institutions on working days of the week, illegal vending sites, unauthorized on-street parking areas, type of roads connecting at the junction, type of vehicles on the road, etc.

II. OBJECTIVE

The main objective of the study is to find –

1. Identification of peak hours of the day.
2. Change in traffic congestion pattern and its cause
3. Identification of the location of congestion.

III. STUDY AREA

The study area is the intersection of Chinhat Block, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India i.e. Atal Chowk (26°50'48.03"N, 80°56'46.21"E). Atal Chowk lies at the center of Lucknow city and is surrounded by markets, government offices, residential areas, etc., of the city. It is a 5-legged intersection merging the roads listed below.

1. VS Marg
2. Mahatma Gandhi Mar
3. Park Roa
4. Ashok Marg
5. Mahatma Gandhi Road (towards Hazratganj Market)

IV. DATA AND SOFTWARE USED

ArcGIS, Google Earth Pro, Google Maps.

V. FLOW OF STUDY

VI. METHODOLOGY

A. Data Collection.

1. Google maps are used for the analysis.
2. Screenshot of each hour is taken for the analysis.
3. Level of service map is prepared for each day (i.e. Monday to Sunday).

B. Finding the Peak Hours of Each Day of the Week.

1. Analysis is done for the time duration from 6 am to 10 pm.
2. Different time slots are made as listed below-

a. Morning (6 am to 10 am)

b. Morning-Afternoon (10 am to 2 pm)

c. Afternoon-Evening (2 pm to 6 pm)

d. Night (6 pm to 10 pm)

C. Analysis of Traffic Congestion Pattern on the basis of Level of Service of the Intersection.

1. It is observed from the LOS Maps (Atal Chowk) that
2. Monday to Friday the traffic is the same every day (working days).

3. On Saturday the traffic is more on every lane due to the weekends.

4. Sunday the diverging traffic from Mahatma Gandhi Marg to VS Marg is minimum throughout the day.

D. Cause of congestion.

1. Main cause of congestion at Atal chowk is
2. Central part of the city.
3. Due to the presence of nearby government places and administrative places of the whole state (i.e., Vidhan Sabha, Sachivalaya).
4. Presence of the marketplace (Hazratganj) nearby.

It is clear that peak hours of the week are-

Conclusion

A. There is traffic congestion at the intersection throughout the day, due to commercial areas and Government offices nearby. B. A congested flow of traffic is present at the intersection in peak hours. C. The table below shows the variation in traffic flow pattern-

References

[1] C. Lee, D. Noyce, and X. Qin, “Development of Traffic Delay Assessment Tool for Short-Term Closures on Urban Freeways,” Transp. Res. Rec. J. Transp. Res. Board, (2008) [2] Toral H.Vyas, H.R.Varia, “A Review On Impact Of Traffic Work Zone On Capacity And Delay,” Compliance Engineering Journal, Volume 11, Issue 2, 2020. [3] Hatice G. Demir, and Yusuf K. Demir, ” A Comparison of Traffic Flow Performance of Roundabouts and Signalized Intersections: A Case Study in Nigde,” The Open Transportation Journal, 2020, Volume 14. [4] S. B. Honrao, U. D. Shiurkar, “Benefits of Smart Traffic Systems(STS) and Different Techniques used for It”, International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE), Volume-8, Issue-6, March 2020 [5] Pavan Kumar, Vandana Tomar ” Monitoring of Traffic and its Impact on Environment Using Geospatial Technology”, Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography, Volume 3, Issue 2. [6] Avijit Maji, Akhilesh Kumar Maurya, Suresh Nama, Prasanta K. Sahu, “Performance-based intersection layout under a flyover for heterogeneous traffic,” J. Mod. Transport. (2015) 23(2):119–129.

Copyright

Copyright © 2022 Anshika Kushwaha, Alok Saini, Dr. Sudhakar Shukla. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.