| Author | Wijekoon, W. M. M. G. D. |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.UE-98-5 |
| Subject(s) | Traffic engineering--Sri Lanka--Colombo
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Traffic congestion has been increasing rapidly in the fast growing city of Colombo. It is
causing a huge loss of money, property, time, energy, and human health. Congestion occurs
for various factors, which originate also from varied sources. However, the increasing
number of vehicles of the city is the primarily cause. Geographical location and surroundings
of the city and centralization of administrative services are also causes for pulling more and
more vehicles into the city of Colombo. Uncontrolled land use and poor management of
infrastructure services are also seen as contributors to congestion. The Government of Sri
Lanka has formulated several management measures to overcome this problem. The success
of any kind of management measures primarily depends on the willingness of people to
cooperate. Consequently, their involvement is most important to implement any management
measure.
With the above in view, the main focus of this study has been to analyze the road-users'
perceptions towards the road environment in general and traffic management measures in
particular in the City of Colombo. The research issues covered include willingness to pay
congestion charges, responsibility of traffic management of the city, and present conditions
of the road network of the city. A questionnaire survey was conducted to determine roadusers' perceptions and views from tlu·ee types of road-users (pedestrians, drivers, and street
vendors). Tlu·ough the questions they were given the opportunity to express their views,
attitudes and make suggestions to ease the traffic congestion of the city. Also, checklist
interviews were conducted to obtain expert opinions and views of the management officials
including the traffic police. Basic information in relation to the traffic volume, number of
vehicles, pollution level, etc. were collected by reviewing numerous documents and reports.
The results of the study allowed specifying several findings. The perceptions of the roadusers towards the effects of traffic congestion and the road environment vary according to the
time of the day. The busy hours clearly fare worst in characterization of the traffic congestion
(always congestion, very noisy and not safe). Most of the road-users have more positive
attitudes to regulatory instruments (Rls) than to economic instruments (Els). One implication
of this is that the road-users are not well of with the economic instruments and their potential
role in reducing traffic congestion and better traffic management. It may also be because they
know well that the use of economic measures may require them to pay congestion charges as
road users. That this is indeed the case reflected in the findings: a majority of respondents do
not like to pay for congestion charges. They view the responsibility of traffic management is
of the Colombo Municipal Council and they should rather use regulatory measures for
reducing congestion. Another possibility is that the road users consider the congestion as
serious for Els to be effective since, after all, they work in an indirect way.
The road-users' perceptions and views have, thus, provided valuable insights for developing
guidelines to make decisions, policies and management measures (by combining Ris and
Els) to ease the prevailing traffic congestion in the Colombo City. |
| Year | 1999 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Urban Environmental and Management (UE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Nurul Amin, A.T.M.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Gengaje, Rajan K. G ;Sathasivan, A. ;Pannapa Herabat ; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Regional Housing and Urban Development Office (RUDO) ;
United State Agency for International Development (USAID); |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1999 |