ABSTRACT

Lagos State being a commercial centre of Nigeria and West Africa is faced with the challenge of rapid development and its associated traffic congestion. Traffic congestion brings about economic loss due to delayed travel times, air pollution and accidents. Thus, this study will evaluate the impact of traffic congestion on Lagos-Ibadan road with a view of proffering recommendation that will enhance best traffic management in order to aid perfect movement system.

            However, the study examines traffic management problem resulting from traffic congestion in study area, evaluates the opinion of stakeholders (commuters, operators, and private owners) in transport sector such as traffic situation and management problem in study area and examines time of the day and day of the week in which congestion is very heavy

            Furthermore, questionnaires were systematically administered to respondents (commuters, commercial operators, private car owner). Findings from the research work revealed that most vehicles that ply the study area are cars; also most of the vehicles used for personal services, travelling buses and trucks. Findings also revealed that impatience is the major cause of traffic congestion, while the major effect of traffic congestion in the study area is delay time. 8am – 6pm and 4pm – 6pm are the time of the day in which congestion is most prominent and most time spent in traffic congestion is within 30mins – 1hr. However, findings accept the hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between cause of traffic congestion and traffic control measure on Toll Gate road, Ikeja, Lagos. The regression result shows that traffic control measure as an independent variable is significant at 5% significant level with t-value = 41.75, F(1,138) = 1742.13 and the R2=.927 which shows that there is a strog relationship between the cause of traffic congestion and traffic control measure. Thus, R = .963 which implies that there is 96% significant level between traffic control measure and cause of traffic congestion.

            Conclusively, findings from the research revealed that the law enforcement agents are available at the study area, but there is still congestion. This implies that the law enforcement agents are not effective as revealed by the research according to the respondent’s response. However, the recommendation discussed should be strictly adhere to in order to aid perfect traffic movement system in the study area.

CHAPTER ONE

                                                        INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

Transportation and property are important in physical and economic development of towns and cities all over the world. Property and land values tend to increase in areas with expanding transportation networks, and increase less rapidly in areas without such improvements. Rapid and continued rise in housing and land prices are expected in cities with transportation improvements and rapid economic and population growth (Goldberg, 1970). Man, nations, regions and the world would be severely limited in development without transportation, which is a key factor for physical and economic growth (Oyesiku, 2002). Transportation systems and land use are interdependent. Indeed findings of earlier studies indicate compelling and consistent connections amongst them (Ewing and Cervero, 2001; Polzin, 2004). According to Bailey, Mokhtarian and Littlel (2008), transportation route is part of distinct development pattern or road network and mostly described by regular street patterns as an indispensable factor of human existence, development and civilization. The route network coupled with increased transport investment result in changed levels of accessibility reflected through Cost Benefit Analysis, savings in travel time and other benefits. These benefits are noticeable in increased catchment areas for services and facilities like shops, schools, offices, banks and leisure activities.

Road networks are observed in terms of its components of accessibility, connectivity, traffic density, level of service, compactness and density of particular roads. Level of service is a measure by which the quality of service on transportation devices or infrastructure is determined and it is a holistic approach considering several factors regarded as measures of traffic density and congestion rather than overall speed of the journey (Mannering, Walter and Scott, 2004).

Access to major roads provides relative advantages consequent upon which commercial users locate to enjoy the advantages. Modern businesses, industries, trades and general activities depend on transport and transport infrastructure, with movement of goods and services from place to place becoming vital and inseparable aspects of global and urban economic survival. Developments of various transportation modes have become pivotal to physical and economic developments. Such modes include human porterage, railways, ropeways and cableways, pipelines, inland waterways, sea, air and roads (Said and Shah, 2008). According to Oyesiku (2002), urbanization in Nigeria has a long history in its growth and development. Extensive development being a feature of the 19th and 20th centuries, with concentration of economic and administrative decision-making in Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Jos and Enugu, and high degree of specialization and larger population associated with greater specialization of goods and services. Wyatt (1997) states that urban areas have tendency to develop at nodal points in transport network and places with good road network will possess relative advantage over locations having poor network. Urban locations with such relative advantage are found where different transport routes converge with high degree of compactness, connectivity, density, length and accessibility exhibited within the intra-and inter-urban road networks.

Lagos-Ibadan road starts at Oworonsoki in Lagos and ends at Ojoo in Ibadan.

Lagos and Ibadan are typical examples in the history of growth and development of cities in Nigeria. Commercial activities like banking, retail/wholesale businesses and professional services congregated to take advantage of nearness to seat of governance. Concentration of activities attracted consumers and ancillary service providers. This partly caused increase in demand for commercial space and its concomitant effects on commercial property values along arterial roads in the metropolis.

The present position concerning commercial properties in Lagos and Ibadan is that majority are located along arterial roads that deliver much of the vehicular and pedestrian movements. There have been increases in rental values along the individual arterial roads although not at equal rates. It is against this background that this research analyzed the arterial roads, determined the levels of accessibility, connectivity, traffic density of the individual arterial roads, examined the pattern of commercial property values, the relationship between the explanatory variables of the road network and the impact of traffic congestion on Lagos-Ibadan road, Nigeria.

1.2       Statement of the problem

Transport is very crucial for the movement of goods and people which marks the backbone of the economy and sustainable development. Traffic management is very crucial for the efficient movement of goods and people especially in the urban areas. The movement of people and goods in a city referred to as traffic flow, is the joint consequences of land activity. There is a direct interaction between the type and intensity of land use and transportation facilities provided. According to Brierley (1962), traffic congestion is like a disease which if not treated will bring death to the heart of the city.

            Traffic congestion may be defined as the situation that arises when road network are no longer capable of accommodation the volume of traffic on them (Bayliss 1977). The situation is usually caused by rapid growth in motorization with less than corresponding improvement in the road network and related facilities, the poor structural pattern of road especially in the traditional area of cities and the unplanned growth and haphazard land use distribution (Kombs 1988).

            The bottom line of the problem facing road traffic congestion is that the volume of traffic is too close to the maximum capacity of a road or network. Congestion in Lagos State is worse than many, perhaps most, other States in Nigeria. More important, it is getting worse, year by year. However, Ibadan is the second to the largest city in the world. Current official forecasts imply that congestion will be substantially worse by the end of this decade, even on the very favourable assumption that all current Government projects and policies are implemented in full, successfully, and to time. This is because road traffic is growing faster than road capacity. This is not a temporary problem; it will continue to be the case, in the absence of measures to reduce traffic because it is infeasible to match a road programme to unrestricted trends in traffic growth. It gets serious by people being brought into city on large roads or motorways. These roads then link up with smaller, older, narrower roads in the city centre. This causes a bottleneck and congestion.

A good proportion of this could alternatively be secured by an appropriate package of alternative measures: priority lanes and signalling; switching to other modes including freight to rail and passenger movements to public transport, walking and cycling; ‘soft’ policies to encourage reduced travel by car; land-use patterns which reduce unnecessary travel; and associated measures to prevent benefits from being eroded by induced travel. The combined effects of road charging and a supportive set of complementary measures represent the best that could be reasonably achieved in the short to medium run. This could reduce congestion costs (as distinct from slowing down their increase) by 40%-50%.

Various cities in Nigeria have tried to manage this problem by introducing traffic management schemes. These schemes may include: park and ride schemes, cycle lanes, congestion charging schemes, car-pooling to encourage people to share cars, and low Emission Zones. Local councils have also tried to make the roads in urban areas safer by introducing traffic calming, pedestrian zones, vehicle-exclusion zones and permit-only parking schemes.

1.3       Research Questions

The foregoing has elicited a number of questions in terms of the impact of traffic congestion on Lagos-Ibadan road in Nigeria to which answers are to be proffered.  Some pertinent questions to enable the study attain its stated objectives are as follows:

·         What time and days of the week in which congestion is most prominent?

·         What are the factors responsible for traffic congestion in the study area?

·         What are the solutions to the problems of traffic congestion in the study area?

1.4       Aim and Objectives of the Research                                          

The primary objective of this study is to analyze the impact of traffic congestion on Lagos-Ibadan express road, focus on the ways to reducing the traffic congestion and the cost of the traffic congestion while the specific objectives are;

• To examine time and days of the week in which congestion is most prominent.

• To analyze the factors responsible for traffic congestion in the study area.

• To examine the solutions to the problems of traffic congestion in the study area.

1.5       Research hypotheses

The hypothesis to be tested is stated thus:

H0: There is no significant relationship between cause of traffic congestion and traffic control measure.

1.6       Scope of the study

The scope of this is traffic congestion on Lagos-Ibadan road, looking at the implication on the environment. Concentration was made at Toll Gate.

1.7        Limitation of the study

The researcher faced some limitation during the course of this research. It was difficult to locate the right office to get information, and also commuters, operators, and private car owners were not willing to supply the needed information due to the confidentiality and sensitivity of the data. It took a strenuous time to obtain genuine information. Thus research work have to source for the available data.

1.8         Definition of Terms

Commuter- Person who regularly travel from one place to another.

Congestion- An excess of traffic, the act of gathering into heap or mass.

LASTMA- Lagos State Traffic Management Authority.

MOT- Ministry Of Transportation.

Pedestrian- Someone walking instead of using vehicle.

Population- The people living within a political or geographical boundary.

Porterage- The transportation of goods by a porter.

Railway- A track consisting of parallel rails, over which wheeled vehicles such as trains may travel.

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