Abstract
It is common to increase road capacity by constructing ring roads to reduce traffic congestion in city areas, although this is often found to be ineffective in the long run. Accordingly, this study investigates various traffic congestion management approaches and their effectiveness in major cities, and explores an identical transport problem in Almaty, Kazakhstan: The Big Almaty Ring Road (BAKAD). Several case examples from the existing literature are examined in which various approaches were taken for managing traffic congestion problems, and these approaches are classified into three concepts. The first concept comprises heavy engineering measures such as ring road development, new road construction, expansion of existing roads, etc. Such measures can initially reduce traffic congestion, but often become ineffective with time due to the generation of induced traffic. Many cities have taken Push and Pull measures that ensure more efficient use of existing capacity and have initiated environmentally friendly alternative transportation modes such as decreased car usage; promotion of public transport, biking and walking; minimization of the necessity of people’s movement by changing urban land use patterns; and so on. These approaches have been found to be effective in providing sustainable transportation solutions and are classified as concept 2. Nevertheless, Push and Pull measures might not be enough for managing traffic congestion, and it might be necessary to increase the road capacity through heavy engineering measures, especially if the city experiences heavy transit traffic. This combined approach is categorized as concept 3. Consequently, the BAKAD project is examined under the umbrella of three concepts, and recommendations are provided based on the findings from the experience of different cities and interviews with experts from Almaty city. Both the results and recommendations developed are relevant for this specific case only, and are not necessarily transferable.
Highlights
The economic cost and environmental impact of traffic jams in large metropolitan areas are enormous
Various approaches for mitigating traffic congestion in the long run were investigated in several cities and were classified into three concepts
The first concept comprises heavy engineering measures such as ring roads, bypass roads or roadway expansions, which provide short-lived relief to traffic congestion. This approach cannot solve the congestion problem alone, due to induced traffic demand, which might worsen the situation for traffic and the environment in the long run, as added road capacity leads to car-dependent development, which further results in growth of traffic volumes; a new urban roadway capacity is needed
Summary
The economic cost and environmental impact of traffic jams in large metropolitan areas are enormous. The Canadian Taxpayer Alliance found that the cost of traffic was more than. In Moscow, a driver lost 127 h per year in traffic congestion [2]. In Europe, traffic congestion accounted for 20.3% of total green-house gas emissions, where 88.2%. Traffic congestion was reported as the main source of other air pollutant emissions, such as NOx (58%), NMVOC (18%), CO (30%), SOx (21%), PM2.5 (27%) and Sustainability 2019, 11, 4973; doi:10.3390/su11184973 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability. Many ways to combat traffic congestion have been applied worldwide, mainways goaltoofcombat these practices is to reduce thebeen timeapplied spent on the roads.and
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