Evaluation of Planning Options to Alleviate Traffic Congestion and ...

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intersections without practical application. There are some rotary and roundabouts. Only
few intersections have chanalization measures. There are only a few pedestrian overpass
and underpass. At present one flyover at Mailbag intersection is under construction and
some others are proposed for construction at Jatrabari intersection, airport road etc.
The existing road network in metropolitan Dhaka needs a planned restructuring to support
an efficient transport system. This restructuring should be based on standard and
functional road classification system, which provides a hierarchy of roads, viz: Local
streets, Collectors, Arterials, Access Controlled Freeways etc. The scope of the present
study is to evaluate and find out some planning and management related measures, which
can improve overall road network performance of the city.
2.5.2 Road Transport Modes
Metropolitan Dhaka has traditionally been served by a wide variety of transport modes.
These modes can be broadly classified into two groups, the Motorized transport (viz. bus,
mini-bus, truck, car, auto-rickshaw, auto-tempo, motorcycle etc.) and Non-motorized
transports (viz. rickshaw, rickshaw van, bicycle, push cart etc.)
Motorized Transport: Estimation from the data provided by ‘Statistical Year Book of
Bangladesh’ reveals that the motor vehicle fleet in Bangladesh is growing as an average
rate of 7% per year. But DUTP-II (1998) claims that the vehicle population on road is
growing as an average rate of 10% annually. The estimates of different type vehicle
population are shown in Table 2.1, which are based on annual registration data from
BRTA (Bangladesh Road transport Authority). However, the BRTA information does not
include data of the number of vehicle that are retired from the fleet each year. The table
indicates that Passenger car, bus and truck are the fastest growing vehicle categories.
Reliable statistics of the size of vehicle fleet in Dhaka are not available (DUTP-II, 1998).
The vehicle registration authority (BRTA) has the record of the number of motor vehicle
registered in Dhaka each year but no information of the number of vehicles retired each
year is available. By applying a retirement profile (the proportion of vehicles that survive
from one year to the next) for each vehicle type to the BRTA data on vehicle
registrations, the estimates in Table 2.1 were derived as an indication of the fleet by the
vehicle types. The figures in the table show quite clearly the indication of the rapid rate of
motorization of Dhaka over a period of eight years from 1992 to 1999. Four categories;