The impact of traffic congestion on the economic development in Buea municipality
Department: Transport and Logistics
No of Pages: 52
Project Code: T&L3
References: Yes
Cost: 5,000XAF Cameroonian
: $15 for International students
ABSTRACT
This
work has main objective to investigate the impact of traffic congestion on
economic development in Buea Municipality.
Descriptive survey research design was
implemented and Data was collected from 100 respondents or participants from
the population in Buea Municipality through self-administered questionnaire
which were established using likert scale of five points.
Data
was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 21 Version for
descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis was further used to
estimate the parameters of reliability and validity of the relationship between
traffic congestion and economic development in Buea Municipality.
Furthermore,
this analysis was adopted to test the hypothesis using 5% level of significant.
Our finding shows that traffic congestion was significant at 5% level of
significance. In addition to that, 5% change in the independent variables will
lead to a positive change in the same amount of economic development in Buea
Municipality.
It
was therefore recommended that Based on the above findings, the following
recommendations were made; More street should be constructed within the town,
taxi trop up and, pick up points should be created, Pedestrian space should be
created, traffic light and other road signs should be located, road order of
movement should be maintained and obsolesce cars should go off road.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Traffic
congestion has been a critical challenge in many cities across the world. It
engenders a range of undesirable consequences that include negative economic
impacts and environmental pollution (Rao, 2012).
Many
South African cities suffer from this challenge. Particularly, the central
business districts (CBD) of a number of large and medium cities of the country
are observed to be affected by the congestion challenges during different
periods of the day.
Kimberley
city of Northern Cape Province of the country is a typical; example. The city,
because of its unique physical, spatial, road network, economic
characteristics, and requirement of mobility of heavy vehicles in addition to
the normal city traffic experience critical traffic congestion challenge in its
CBD area, particularly during the peak hours.
Consequently,
issues such as loss of economic benefits because of increase of travel times of
vehicles in mining activities, delay in travel and change of travel pattern of
local people for day to day activities, environmental pollution, and higher
consumption of fuel and anxiety of people to travel top CBD area during business hours have emerged (Rao,
2012).
In
addition, experiences of different policy interventions such as creation of
additional road infrastructure, Travel Demand Management measures,
reinforcement of public transportation system, congestion pricing,
encouragement of non-motorised transportation system, limiting parking
facilities, etc., which have been tried in different cities of the world
suggest that, these solutions have met mixed successes.
Besides,
they require creation of infrastructure, enforcement of certain constraints and
restrictive measures and change in mobility behaviour, which is sometimes
unacceptable by people and also incurs huge investment, making such projects
economically unsustainable and socially unacceptable.
This
warrants acceptable and cost effective remedial measures to alleviate the
traffic congestion challenges in the city (Sorensen et al., 2008;). However,
before evolving remedial interventions,
it is necessary to assess the level of traffic congestion and reasons therefore
understand the perspective influence of the solutions that could assist in
evolving strategies to meet the challenges (Sorensen et al., 2008;).
Therefore,
the objective of this paper is to explore the causes and degree of traffic
congestion on the roads in and around the CBD area; and examine the impact of
plausible re-engineering measures to alleviate the challenge.
Furthermore.
Transport is one of the key sectors of the economy. It plays a vital role in
the daily activities of economic development. It serves as a catalyst in
production, as it facilitates the movement of inputs to production points and
evacuates products for storage or marketing.
Its
role is essential for all aspects of the social and economic life of society
(T.Goyal, et al, 2011). Transportation, especially road transport, is a basic
necessity for people after lunch and shelter.
Notwithstanding,
with an efficient, safe and affordable transport system that offers the option
of different modes of transport, accessibility to basic needs can be improved;
many costs can be saved; productivity can be increased; and thus human and
economic development can be improved.
In
addition, the reduction of pollution, the reduction of necessary transport
spaces and the improvement of road safety lead to an improvement in the quality
of life (Robin and Wytse, 2011).
However,
Pacione et al.; (2005) argued that inefficient and inefficient transport
systems significantly limit economic development, social opportunities and
social interactions.
Access
to affordable and good quality public transport is essential for the urban
population, since its absence generates economic, social and physical isolation
(Department of International Development, 1999). The problem seems to affect
low-income communities in suburban areas with inadequate access to public
transport and other basic urban infrastructure (Hine, Olvera et al, 2003).
In
general, transportation is essential for development because, without physical
access to resources and markets, health, education and other social services;
quality of life suffers, growth stagnates and poverty reduction cannot be
maintained.
Motorized
transport, with its corresponding negative impacts, contributes greatly to
creating an imbalance between the three aspects of sustainable development:
economic growth, social progress and environmental protection (Robin and Wytse,
2011).
Briefly,
a case in Lagos is one of the largest industrial, commercial and public
administrative centers in Nigeria; host many offices of many ministries and
departments, private sectors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Nigeria
generates more than 40% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of countries and
contributes 80% of domestic revenues to national governments. Therefore, it
remains the center of all economic, social and political activities; locally
and internationally, and as such it remains the center of all kinds of paraphernalia
and is the most populous and busiest city in the country (Setebe, 1994).
In
addition to that, population growth, urbanization and family income that create
a greater propensity to travel; marked increase in car ownership; and the
increase in commercial and industrial activity has in turn led to an increase
in the demand for car transport (Oni, 1999: UN, 2011).
However,
this increase does not correspond to the expansion of the physical
infrastructure of the city, which is one of the essential facilities for the
establishment of an adequate and efficient transport system.
If
roads become impractical due to lack of facilities to allow vehicles to
circulate efficiently, the most notable effects are traffic jams. The
consequence of these bottlenecks is the inefficient and inefficient use of
material and human resources in particular.
Mobility
is crucial to functionality of cities as it affects their socio-economic
activities. It is also a fact that the economic development of a nation is
closely linked to its transport system. Hindrance to effective mobility is road
traffic congestion, which the World Bank (1999) stated that it constitutes
about 54.5% of all noticeable urban transport externalities.
This
is as a result of the ever increasing urbanization, human activities and the
resultant heavy dependence on road transportation that warrants increase in the
number of vehicles, of different categories, on the road.
Of
interest also is the difficulty of movements on inter-city roads and other
major corridors due largely to obstructions such as traffic crashes, broken
down vehicles or certain land use activities located along these corridors or
sheer traffic volume exceeding the road network capacity during festive seasons
and some other major activities.
The
demand for transport especially in cities of developing countries has been on
the increase following the rapid socio-economic growth and development of these
countries.
For
instance, the rate of motor vehicle ownership and use is growing faster than
population in many places, with the vehicle ownership growth rates rising to 15
to 20 percent per year. (Odeleye 2008). Traffic management has been quite poor
in many developing countries, despite the growth in transport demand and
supply.
The
resultant traffic congestion has become impediment to our livability. Road
traffic congestion, according to Goodwin (1997) can be defined as the impedance
vehicles impose on each other, due to the speed-flow relationship, in
conditions where the use of a transport system approaches its capacity.
Banjo
(1984), also defined congestion as the saturation of road network capacity due
to regular and irregular reductions in service quality exemplified by increased
travel times, variation in travel times and interrupted travel.
Olagunju
(2011) simply described road traffic congestion as a disproportion between the
inflow and the outflow of vehicles into and out of a particular space. This is
also in line with Ogunsanya (2002) conceptualization of road traffic congestion
as a situation when urban road network could no longer accommodate the volume
of traffic on it.
This papers looks at the causes of congestion and mitigation strategies with focus on developing countries and Cameroon as a mirror, using South-west region, the nation‟s economic nerve center and one major corridor of Buea Municipality as case studies.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Buea
is an axis of Cameroon economy, road traffic congestion is a headache and a
burning problem for public and private institutions; and the inhabitants of the
city in general.
Congestion
in the city is associated with an increase in vehicle queues and poor
accessibility to work and homes, especially in the morning and afternoon hours.
Serious
traffic congestion is observable between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. (the time that
most workers go to their workplaces), the hours between 12:30 and 2:00 p.m.
lunch breaks) and the hours between 03:00 and 08:00 p. m.
Based
on these facts, it can be established that the majority of workers and people
in general report very late in their work stations, such as offices, markets,
schools and hospitals. This means that some may report on time, although very
tired and stressed, and others may not.
Others
face the problem of a few hours of sleep due to early awakening and late sleep,
wasted time in queues, overtime work and a few hours to rest at home after
work.
The
loss of time of road vehicles due to traffic congestion is determined based on
more or less estimated queue lengths, congestion periods and average queue
speed (Hansen, 2000). It is clear that people in Cameroon spent more time in
traffic queues than in other transactions.
In
general, transportation in Nigeria is chaotic, inefficient, unreliable and
dangerous. It negatively affects society, especially the urban poor, through
loss of productivity, inhibiting human development and reducing the quality of
life.
It
is said that all these complications and problems that most employees and
people in the general public encounter in varying degrees and circumstances are
directly associated with the congestion of existing road traffic.
However,
its economic impact remains largely unknown and is probably not well
documented, so to speak. Consequently, the objective of this research was to examine
the impact of traffic congestion on economic development in Cameroon
specifically Buea Municipality.
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The discussed background and problem formulation leads us to the following research questions.
- The main research question is thus, “what is the impact of traffic congestion on economic development in Buea Municipality?
1.3.1 Specific Research Questions
- What is the relationship between traffic congestion and economic development?
- What are the problems caused by road traffic congestion that affects economic development?
- What are the policies to be put in place to reduce the road traffic congestion?
1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
- The main objective of this study is to assess the impact of traffic congestion on economic development in Buea Municipality.
1.4.1 Specific Objectives
- To determine the relationship between the existing road traffic congestion and the economic development.
- To examine the problems caused by the traffic congestion that affect economic development.
- To identify policies that may be put in place to reduce road traffic congestion
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