A

RESEARCH

ON

TRAFFIC MANANGEMENT IN KATHMANDU VALLEY

SUBMITTED BY:

SANDESH LAMSAL(070-BCE-476)

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

NATIONAL COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

TALCHIKHEL, LALITPUR

NOVEMBER 29, 2016

 Introduction
The increase in the number of vehicles has caused severe traffic congestions in
Kathmandu Valley. Vehicles are caught up in the traffic congestion during the entire
day. Traffic congestion is currently one of the most serious problems in the valley.
Roads are meant to facilitate mobility - the movement of people and goods. However,
most roads are developed for vehicles rather than for pedestrians and non-motorized
vehicles. Roads should be treated as shared space for all and developed in the same
manner. Pedestrian sidewalks and bicycle lanes need to be developed along with
roads. But, such cases happen very rarely. Car owners, private and business, are a
minority in developing countries, but have concentrated political power, because of
which our roads are more vehicle-friendly. Cities in developing countries are ugly
because they are built and are still being built solely for the powerful minorities and
their cars.

Currently, roads of Kathmandu are being widened. This is a good indication of

development because without proper transport road infrastructure economic
development is not possible. Transport is the basis of mobility and without mobility,
national as well as international, trade cannot happen. Economy can never develop
without trade. Widening of roads is also carried with a view to managing our capital´s
traffic. But, this strategy should not be viewed as only the way to improve traffic
system. Current widening of roads is not the permanent solution for smooth traffic
flow if it is not accompanied by proper, systematic and scientific traffic management.
Trying to solve the traffic system only by widening roads is like putting out a fire
with gasoline.

When there is less space for cars, there will be fewer cars. Widening of roads results
in more space for vehicles, less congestion and more recreational driving, as a result
of which people are motivated to buy private vehicles. This increases the number of
private vehicles on the roads and, in the long run, the capacity of roads falls short of
the number of vehicles, resulting in traffic congestion once again. Would it be wise to
widen the roads again in that circumstance? Obviously not: it is not effective to
simply widen roads whenever traffic congestion occurs. Therefore, systematic and
scientific traffic management should go in hand with the widening of roads.

Traffic management is the direction, control, and supervision of all functions incident
to the procurement and use of freight and passenger transportation services for the
smooth flow of traffic. Traffic management gets easier when the number of traffic on
the road decreases. One of the ways to achieve the same is developing a systematic
and reliable public transportation system. Public vehicles have higher occupancy rates
in terms of passengers and better economy of space compared to private cars. A car
carries a maximum of 5 persons whereas a bus carries around 50 people, which is 10
times greater; moreover, the size of a public vehicle is typically only about twice that
of a private car. From the practices of the city councils of developed countries, we
know that there is no alternative to developing efficient and effective public
transportation systems along with widening of roads in Kathmandu. Public transport
should be better and cheaper to compete with motorcycles and cars, so that people
shift from private to public vehicles.

Motorcycles are a new factor in Kathmandu. The number of motorcycles has

increased tremendously which is one cause for the difficulty in managing our
capital´s traffic. The solution is not banning them but motivating the riders to shift to
public vehicles. Transport problems cannot be solved in a day or two and only with
money but with proper plan, policies, strategies and their proper implication. One of
the strategies presented here is through the development of public transport. Public
transport is an essential transportation option that can reduce congestion, thereby
helping the free flow of people and goods. Additionally, high use of public
transportation increases the quality of life – decreases congestion, resource use,
greenhouse gas emission and land use needed for infrastructure.

The development of trains, trams or metro lines is out of reach for the immediate
future, however, traffic congestion has to be solved nonetheless. The appropriate
public transport in our case would be the introduction of integrated bus transit.
Development of integrated bus transit starts with the systematic replacement of low-
capacity public vehicles – micro buses, mini buses and Auto rickshaws – with high-
capacity buses. These vehicles should be easy to board, comfortable to ride and quiet.
One high-capacity bus can carry the same number of passengers as a few micro buses
or mini buses. There should be good interconnections between buses with less transit
times. Bus stops should be organized and proper travelling timetables developed and
followed with a central ticketing system. Buses should be rider-friendly and
comfortable and convenient for children, disabled, elderly, women and the poor.
Traffic lights should be installed in such a way that priority is given to public
transport vehicles.

If widening of roads is accompanied by the introduction of integrated bus transit, the

traffic system of Kathmandu would be solved permanently. Road development and
traffic management should go hand in hand for sustainability and progress.
 Background

Traffics are the vehicles/automobiles that are on a road at a particular time. They are
the automobile that are utilized for the purpose of transportation. The traffic is the
major means of terrestrial transportation in urban areas. The congestion is a condition
on any network as use increases and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip
times, and increased queuing. The most common example is for the physical use of
roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is greater enough that the interaction between
vehicles slows the speed of traffic stream, congestion is incurred. As demand
approaches the capacity of a road (or of intersection along the road), extreme traffic
congestion sets in. When vehicles are fully stopped for periods of time, this is
colloquially known as traffic jam.
The advancement of 21st century’s science and technology has a great impact to the
Nepalese automobile trends. The growing of urbanization and influence of western
culture has cultivated the diverse and sound updated utilization of the
automobiles/vehicles. The Transport, storage and communications has contributed
8.15% of the total GDP of our country; among this transportation has a greater shear
in the national economy of our country. The need of time, influence of globalization
and steps towards (marching towards) the era of civilization has drastically changed
the overall automobile industry of Nepal baked by wants, needs and desire of
Nepalese people. Owing to the fact, and stipulated intensification towards the
public/private ownership of automobiles that are encounter on the roads; the roads
that we have in Kathmandu valley are about to surrender in front of the crowd. The
crowded traffic might have various explicit and implicit impacts to human society,
civilization and overall beauty of the city. In fact, to diagnose these effects it is
enough wiser to go to the root causes of traffic hassles and congestion in Kathmandu.
The degree and depth of traffic hassles in Kathmandu may mount on various facts and
figures but their impact and responsibilities may vary

Literature Review
Traffic management is a key branch within logistics. It concerns the planning,
control and purchasing of transport services needed to physically move vehicles (for
example aircraft, road vehicles, rolling stock and watercraft) and freight.

Traffic management is the planning, monitoring and control or influencing of traffic.

It aims to:

• maximize the effectiveness of the use of existing infrastructure;

• ensure reliable and safe operation of transport;

• address environmental goals; and

• ensure fair allocation of infrastructure space (road space, rail slots, etc.) among
competing users.
It is therefore an essential element in increasing the efficiency and safety of transport
networks and operations
Status in Nepal and Kathmandu
Ring road expansion:
The first phase of the Kathmandu Ring Road Improvement Project is being executed
with a Chinese assistance--upgrading the existing two-lane road to eight lanes along
with bicycle lanes and footpaths on both sides.
Lanes on the eight bridges along the section will also be added. The slow pace of
work has greatly inconvenienced commuters and local residents as lanes have been
dug on either side and construction materials stored on the roadsides.
“Construction of substructures for all the eight bridges has been completed with only
the superstructures remaining to be built,” he said.
The superstructure at Manohara Bridge near Koteshwor is being set up.
Third Railway Survey and Design Institute Group Corporation, a Chinese firm,
designed the expansion while Chinese contractor Shanghai Construction Group has
been tasked with completing the project.
The cost of the project scheduled to be completed by January 2018 is 312 million
yuan (approx Rs5.13 billion).According to the KRRIP, 50 percent work of opening
the track on either side has been completed. Forty percent of wall construction, 30
percent of drainage construction and 40 percent of sub-grade construction is over.

Figure 1 Typical Cross Section of Ring Road Expansion

Intersections at Five Major Junctions in Kathmandu
The DOR has planned to develop five major intersections as grade-separated ones in
order to improve the level of service for vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the entire
network of intersections along the arterial axes for East West Corridor and North
South Corridor within the Kathmandu Valley. Furthermore, it intended to contribute
significantly towards mitigating traffic congestion and safety in the entire city.
1) Old Baneshwor Junction
2) New Baneshwor Junction
3) Thapathali Junction
4) Tripureshwor Junction
5) Kalimati Junction
In this project, the basic design and detailed project report of all the five junctions
were prepared under the administration of DOR in recent months and the New
Baneshwor Junction has the most progress in the preparation of the detailed project
report and commenced the construction in advance compared to the other target
junctions.
Kathmandu Valley Road Widening Projects
In recent months, after the end of 2011, improvement of major roads including not
only the national highway and the feeder road but also the urban roads requiring high
traffic capacity under DOR and municipalities within Kathmandu Valley Core Area
has been conducted especially for land preparation works administrated by KVTDC
(KVDA) in cooperation with the Municipality, MTP, and DOR to facilitate
substantial progress. The houses which encroached within ROW have been
demolished. The actual progress until the end of June 2012 has reached to
approximately 35 km, and another 30 km will be demolished aftertime according to
the present plan of KVDA. The ROW was defined by Kathmandu Valley Building
By-laws issued by KVTDC in 2007
Causes of increased congestion and theoretical remedial suggestion
✓ increase in the number of vehicles

✓ Violation in the traffic rules:

✓ Various construction works:

✓ Increase in the number of accidents;

✓ Narrow road

✓ Parking at the side of road

✓ Increased number of vehicles having low carrying capacity such as bike

✓ Improper management of traffic at the intersection

✓ The unsystematic street shops have also played vital role in traffic jam

✓ No systematic rules

✓ No fixed path

✓ No use of traffic signal

Remedial solution
❖ Expansion of road
❖ Construction of building for parking purpose at major places
❖ Use of public vehicles effectively than the private one
❖ Construction of flyovers
❖ The unsystematic street shops should be banned
❖ There should be systematic rules
❖ There should have proper use of traffic signals
CONCLUSION
Overall in Nepal the parking-based scheme is needed to apply urgently uniformly all
over the country especially in highly congested areas which will involve a data source
system such as computer with a wireless interface and access point with a data
forwarder which will help to forward the received data to the target parking clusters
(a group of vehicles parked on same road and belong to same cluster) and end users
(vehicle users who will receive the message and work accordingly). There should be
proper implementation of rules and regulation and constant supervision through the
CCTV. Whoever found to break the law, punishment should be given. The ring road
and Kathmandu valley expansion which are taking right now will greatly help in the
reduction of accident and for the management of traffic.