ASSESSMENT OF TRAFFIC CONGESTION AND ITS IMPACT ON ROAD CAPACITY IN URBAN AREAS UNDER MIXED TRAFFIC CONDITIONS USING MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS - A CASE STUDY OFADDIS ABABA CITY

Abstract

Traffic congestion is a complex phenomenon that is connected to several vehicle movements on the road. The major reasons behind this problem are the various continuous activities in the urban areas such as education, employment, recreation, business, political, social, and cultural. In addition to these activities, floating and migration, increase congestion on city roads. This will affect the traffic stream characteristics and reduce the road capacity and level of service. The present study aims to evaluate and analyze traffic congestion and its effect on road capacity and level of service at Mebrathail's mid-block location in Addis Ababa city. To achieve the objective, the Mebrathail mid-block was divided into four segments appropriately, and the traffic volume and speed studies were conducted at each segment for 10 hours a day at 15-minute consecutive intervals. The necessary traffic data including road geometry at each segment was recorded. The congestion levels at each segment were then measured by estimating the reduced speed between each segment. The volume-to-capacity ratio (v/c ratio) was then estimated and found to be exceeding 1 in most of the hours of the day, resulting in a poor level of service F. Various Multiple Regression Models were developed correlating the reduced speed with traffic volume, composition, and road geometry. The results from the analysis indicate that traffic congestion on urban roads has an impact on urban characteristics.

Keywords: Road Capacity, Level of Service, Reduction in Speed, Traffic congestion, V/C ratio