Evaluation of Influence of Roadside Frictions on the Capacity of Roads in Delhi, India

Abstract

Abstract Efficient transportation system is a crucial factor for the growth of a nation's economy. The urban transportation system is the engine of the economic activities all over the world. Many arterial roads in many developing countries exhibit deteriorated capacity and poor performance. Various studies are done on this problem in some developing countries and found that because of urbanization, there is often a great deal of activity on and alongside these roads, which affects the way in which they operate. This interference to the smooth flow of traffic is known as “side friction. Urban roadway capacity is influenced by various factors like speed of vehicles on the road, width of road, structure of the road, construction work on roads (e.g. work undertaken for Metro Rail construction), various land uses that attract motorized / pedestrian traffic bound to hospitals, institutional, commercial area, shoulder and roadway width, access points, terrain etc. However for urban roads, the impact of side frictions i.e. bus stops, encroachments, on-street parking, pedestrian crossing, entries and exits from major roads etc are also much significant. Side friction events causing an impact on traffic performance on the road segment commonly described as side friction, is normally not included in HCM-models, which are originated from developed countries with a high level of motorization and low amount of road side activities. The impact of the friction points can be minimized by imposing few restrictions or proper design of the friction point. This paper reviews the literature on the impact of different types of fictional activities on urban roadway capacity and speed. It has been observed that presence of a friction points eventually reduces the roadway capacity and am attempt has been made to quantify the amount of speed reduction due to friction points.