ASSESSMENT OF VEHICULAR TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN YENAGOA, NIGERIA

Abstract

he aim of this paper is to assess vehicular traffic congestion in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Traffic congestion is akin to major cities of developed and developing countries, the bane of urban life. The gravity model provided the theoretical foundation for this study, while a survey design involving volumetric count of vehicles and administration of questionnaire to 400 road users along major roads in Yenagoa was also used. The immediate causes of vehicular traffic congestion along major roads and conflict points in Yenagoa are: poor state of the roads, road side trading/market, inadequate public mass transit vehicles, road capacity, and poor traffic signalization. Generally, the effects of vehicular traffic congestion on road users include road traffic crashes and accidents, exposure of commuters and pedestrians to ambient pollutants with attendant health implications, parking problems, effects on aesthetics of buildings and the environment and encouragement of street trading. The result of the regression model revealed that the extracted components explained 0.614 (61.4%) of influence on vehicular traffic congestion in Yenagoa at 0.05 significance level. This study recommends an efficient transport planning system, the pull and push measures of traffic management such as introduction of mass transit and encouragement of off-street parking at affordable price