Valley roads reach saturation point

KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 21, 2011 - If figures from the Metropolitan Traffic Police are to believed, the vehicular capacity of roads in the capital have now reached saturation point, something that is worrisome for commuters in the Valley. DIG of Nepal Police Ganesh Rai, who is chief of Metropolitan Traffic Division Office, said there are 30 to 40 percent more vehicles than capacity on roads in the capital. According to Rai, around 800,000 vehicles ply on the 1,594.67 km of roads in the Valley every day, some 300,000 more than capacity. Altogether 570,145 vehicles have been registered in Bagamati Zone alone.

As traffic congestion is at a peak, the average speed of vehicles in the core city area is now limited to 15-20 km per hour, according to Indu Sharma Dhakal, director general at the Department of Roads. “The number of vehicles has reached so high that existing roads can´t handle additional vehicular movement in the days ahead,” said Rai, who presented a report on Kathmandu´s traffic situation to the prime minister early this week. In addition, it is also beyond the managerial capacity of the traffic police. One traffic policeman can handle traffic on up to 1.65 km of road and up to 585 vehicles. As of now there are 965 traffic policemen in the field, some 400 less than actually required in the Valley.

According to Rai´s report, about 30 percent of traffic congestion takes place at the Maitighar section. “If the Nepal Army opens the Maitighar-Bhadrakali road section for the public, the congestion will decrease to a remarkable level,” Rai said. Convinced by the report, Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has already instructed the army to open the Maitighar-Bhadrakali road section. The army is yet to act on the directive. According to the report, Chabahilchowk, Kalankichowk, Koteshworchowk, Thapathalichowk, Gaushalachowk, Maharajgunj and Tripureshworchowk are the traffic congestion areas in the capital. “It is essential to construct flyovers at those places within three to five years to curb the traffic congestion,” Rai added.

Traffic police have not only identified the problems of traffic management in the capital but also floated some short-term plans to ease the problem. Traffic police plan to install more CCTV camera/traffic light controls and deploy cranes for light and heavy lifting and loading, wreckers for light and heavy vehicle and portable combined earth-moving vehicles. They also propose development of mass transportation inste

ad of using small public vehicles and construction of overhead bridges and subways for pedestrian crossing.

Similarly, supply of infrastructure such as electric motorcycles, traffic lights, road markings, traffic islands and footpaths, traffic lights at various places and construction of underground passages are some of the long-term plans. “Either the number of vehicles should be reduced or the existing roads should be expanded for proper traffic management. The government should introduce a mass transportation and metro system and displace old vehicles also,” Rai concluded.