Economic Evaluation of Traffic Congestion & Design of Traffic Signal with Simulation at Ottapalam

Abstract

Abstract: Traffic congestion is the most outstanding performance of the negative externalities of urban road traffic, which is characterized by the negative effects of time delay, energy waste, air pollution and many other impacts. It affects people’s daily life and could cause stress other than time and monetary loss. Traffic congestion causes negative impacts to transport sector and cause a massive increase in the transportation cost. Time is a precious commodity that we all have an equal amount of, and it is something that should not be wasted. A lot of our time is being wasted due to traffic congestion. Therefore, the study of impact of delay at important and busy road stretches in monetary terms is important. This study evaluates the traffic congestion cost at Ottapalam city which prevail heterogeneous traffic conditions. Congestion cost estimations are done by considering the factors including delay, traffic volume, passenger occupancy, and value of travel time of different vehicle types. The results obtained indicated that there was a considerable monetary loss due to traffic delay in the form of opportunity costs. So, there was a need to reduce this monetary loss by bringing suitable measures. The traffic condition of the selected road is found out using simulation by PTV Vissim software after implementing a traffic signal at a busy intersection between the road stretch. The reduction in traffic congestion shows the rightful implementation of the traffic signal.