TRAFFIC

CONGESTION
{ CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS }

Submitted to:
Ma’am Tamkeena Mustafa
Submitted by:
Safia M. Siddiq-42
Rafia Tariq-32
Ravi Kumar-02
Syed Osama-22
Faizan Sheikh-13
 Abstract
Traffic congestion is a condition on transport
networks that occurs as use an increase in
number of vehicles, and is characterized by
slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased
vehicular queuing. As demand approaches the
capacity of a road (or of the intersections along
the road), extreme traffic congestion sets in.
When vehicles are fully stopped for periods of
time, this is colloquially known as a traffic
jam or traffic snarl-up. Traffic congestion can
lead to noise pollution, visual pollution due to
which drivers become frustrated and engaging
in road rage.
Mathematically, congestion is usually looked at
as the number of vehicles that pass through a
point in a window of time, or a flow. Congestion
flow lends itself to principles of fluid dynamics.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract…………………………………………
1. Introduction…………………………..
2. Background………………………….
2.1 About Karachi………………………..
2.2 About Saddar ………………………….
2.3 History of Saddar
2.4 Neighbourhood of Saddar…………
3. Analysis…
3.1 Causes of traffic congestion..
3.2 Problems…….
4. Methodology………………………...
4.1 Study area…………………….
4.2 Data collection………………..
4.3 Procedure of questionnaire….
5. Literature review
5.1 Overview of historical background
 5.3 Procedure of questionnaire…

Introduction
Traffic congestion is defined as a condition
when the traffic volume has reached the
capacity of the roads intersections or certain
factors have reduced roadway intersection
capacity and the road junction is experiencing
forced flow operations at low speed.
According to Oxford dictionary, congestion is
defined as abnormal accumulation, the action of
gathering, heaping together in mass a crowding
together.
 BACKGROUND
About Karachi:
Karachi was the capital of the Pakistan then the capital
was transferred to Islamabad in the region of Ayub Khan
and became the capital of Sindh province. It is the most
populous and largest city of Pakistan with around having
of 3billion population, and third most populous city proper
in the world. Ranked as a beta world city, the city is
Pakistan's premier industrial and financial center. Karachi
is also Pakistan's most cosmopolitan city. Situated on the
Arabian Sea, Karachi serves as a transport hub, and is
home to two of Pakistan's two largest seaports, the Port of
Karachi and Port Bin Qasim, as well as the busiest airport
in Pakistan.

About saddar town:

The word Saddar generally means the "centre" (of a
settlement) and also head(of a group of a people or
an organization). Saddar is located in the colonial
heart of Karachi.
history:
Saddar Town contains much of the oldest parts of
Karachi, in particular the neighbourhoods of
Kharadar and Mithadar which represent the pre-
colonial history of Karachi.
During the colonial era, Saddar was the centre of
Karachi, a status maintained from 1947 to the
1960s, when the federal government offices were
based in Saddar. They have now been replaced by
the offices of the provincial Government of Sindh.
Many beautiful examples of colonial architecture
can be found in Saddar Town including the main
building of Karachi Grammar School, Frere Hall and
the Sindh Club, Rainbow center, Empress market,
Zainab market.
THE FOCAL POINTS OF THE SADDAR:
Saddar Town is the main business area of Karachi,
with the central shopping area found in the historic
Empress Market as well as the Central Bus Station
and the Central Railway Station and the nearby Port
of Karachi. The area owns the largest solution to
mobile phones, a market named Mobile Market,
containing spare parts for a worldwide variety of
mobile phones as well as selling and buying of them.
A major bustling street in Saddar is named Zaib-un-
nissa Street, after the influential author and
journalist, Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah.
There are several ethinic groups in saddar; including
Muhajirs,Sindhis,Punjabis,Kashmiris,Siraikis,Pakhtu
ns,Brahvis,Balochis,Memons,Bohras,Ismaili,etc.
Over 85% population is Muslims. There are also
Chiristians, Hindus, Parsi, Ahmadis and other
religious communities. The population of sadder
town is estimated to be nearly one million.

OBJECTIVE
WHAT TRAFFIC CONGESTION
IS?
WHAT ARE ITS CAUSES?
WHAT ARE ITS
RECOMMENDATIONS \
SOLUTIONS?
 ANALYSIS
Causes of traffic congestion:
Traffic congestion experienced on most of the roads
and intersections in Karachi is not due to capacity
problem but because of bad driving habits, lack of
traffic education and ineffective enforcement of
which results in traffic congestion.
The factors causing congestion in Karachi are listed
below:

1. INCREASING NUMBER OF
VEHICLES:
The problems may be attributed to a number
of factors, but the increasing number of
motorized vehicles and growth of central
business districts in the city center, are major
causes resulting in traffic chaos and muddle.
2. TRAFFIC VOLUME:
 Traffic volumes on certain roads in central
area have reaches their capacity and require
widening.
3. INTERSECTIONS IN CENTRAL
AREA:
Most of the intersections in central area
cannot serve existing traffic volumes and need
redesigning.
4. TRAFFIC SIGNALS TIMING:
Traffic signals timings fixed in the past
experience increased traffic volumes resulting
in the necessity to operate them manually
during peak hours.
5. BAD DRIVING HABITS:
Rash and negligent and bad driving habits of
Commercial drivers and young generation also
cause traffic interruptions.
6. NARROW ROADS:
U-turn and narrow roads are also a cause of
traffic interruption.
7. PARKING ISSUES:
 Haphazard parking, two-side kerb parking,
angle parking, double parking, parking at
intersections, etc are the causes of reduction
in capacity and traffic interruptions especially
when a parked vehicles tries to pull out from
the parked space and block the fast moving
lane.
8. LOCATION OF BUS STOPS:
Location of bus stops at intersections and
stoppage of buses on unauthorized stops and
on the main roadways instead of pulling in
near the kerb.
9. PEDESTRIAN WALKING:
Pedestrian freely cross roads at any point
causing interruptions and slowing down of
smooth flow of traffic which sometimes ends
up in traffic jams especially in shopping areas.

10. MULTIPILICITY OF TRAFFIC:

Multiplicity of traffic consisting of various
modes of transport including animal drawn
vehicles are also one of the causes of traffic
congestion.
11. ENCROACHMENT OF
FOOTHPATHS:
Encroachment of footpaths and roads by
hawkers and rehriwallas-are serious cause of
traffic congestion as well as accident hazards.
12. ROADSIDE WORKSHOPS:
Roadside workshops and garages erode the
road capacity and result in traffic congestion.
13. ENCROACHMENT OF ROADS BY
SHOPKEEPERS:
Furniture markets and car dealers encroach a
large road space resulting in availability of
lesser width of roads.
14. KEEPING BUILDING
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS ON
ROADS:
Building construction material, such as, steel,
sand, cement blocks, wood etc. They are
 spread on roads in front of under construction
buildings by certain irresponsible person.

15. REPAIR OF BREAKDOWN

VEHICLES ON ROAD:
It has become common sight in Karachi to find
a breakdown truck or bus awkwardly parked in
the middle of the road which is normally
repaired or wheel replaced right in the center
of the road at the great inconvenience to the
traffic.
16. ROAD CUTTING AND PATH
HOLES:
Frequent road cutting, imperfect repair of road
surface after such cutting and presence of
path holes or depressed main holes are also
case of slowing down the traffic which reduces
capacity of the road and may cause
congestion.
 Problems:
The whole central area is boiling with
problems. Major problems are, of course, that
of congestion, traffic and pollution. Congestion
is due to high floor area index, conversion of
residential areas into commercial, and lack of
open spaces.
Traffic congestion is also due to circulation
problems, unplanned bus stops, lack of
parking facilities, insufficient right-of-way and
multi-node circulation pattern.
Enivronmental pollution is a direct result of
vehicular traffic. It is of three kind:
 Atmospheric pollution
 Noise pollution
 Visual pollution
Atmospheric pollution is caused by smoke and
toxic gases produced by automobiles specially,
rickshaws, buses.
Noise pollution is also caused by them. Some of
the areas like M. A. Jinnah Road and Empress
Market have the highest noise level in the world.
The noise level results in physiologically and
psychologically stressed zones-unsuitable for
living and working.
Visual pollution has two main causes: gathering of
smoke and dirt particles, due to immense traffic, or
building facades, and age of building itself.
Together with open, overhead wiring, and lack of
maintenance, these have made the area obsolete
and grotesque.
 Research Methodology
Study area:
The location of this study is at Saddar Town
Karachi includes:
 CDGK Parking plaza
 Empress street
 Zaib-un-Nissa street
 Lucky star chowrangi
Data collection:
This research involved two stages of data
collection.
 The first stage was through the
gathered primary and secondary data.
The primary data was collected doing
the site survey and observation. This is
purposely conducted to search the
issues\causes and
recommendations\solutions related to
the topic studied. Literature survey and
review of existing information serve as
secondary data. It refers to historical
data structure of variables that have
been previously collected and
assembled or some research problem.
 The second stage of data collection
was obtained using questionnaires
about traffic congestion.
Procedure of questionnaire:
For this research, around 10 respondents
were selected of the public in the city.
The public was chosen because they are
the potential users. The survey was
conducted over a two day’s period. The
respondents were surveyed at the site on
the peak hour i.e12:00pm - 2:00pm.
Questionnaire:
Q1. Years of settlement in this area?
a) 2-5yrs
b) 6-12yrs
c)13-22yrs

Q2. Is there any issue between

communities?
a) Yes
b) No
c) I don’t know
Q3. Are there sufficient parking facilities in
this area?
a) Yes
b) No
c) I don’t know
Q4. Is there enough pedestrian walking
space?
a) Yes
b) No
c) I don’t know
Q5. Are chaos the main cause of traffic
congestion?
a) yes
b) no
c) I don’t know

Q6. Are traffic police working efficiently?

a) Yes
b) No
c) I don’t know
Q7.Any frequent road cutting and improper
road repair issues?
a) Yes
b) No
c) I don’t know

Q8.Are traffic signals working properly?

a)Yes
b)No
c)I don't know

Q9.Are pedestrian bridges enough for

public?
a)Yes
b)No
c)I don't know

Q10.İs keeping construction materials on

road carelessly cause traffic congestion?
a)Yes
b)No
c)I don't know
Literature review
OVERVIEW OF HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND:
Saddar is the focal point of the every city from where
the growth\development of the city emerged and it
becomes the hub for commercial and business
activities.
So the Saddar is the commercial and business heart
of Karachi. Saddar Town contains much of the
oldest parts of Karachi, in particular the
neighbourhoods of Kharadar and Mithadar which
represent the pre-colonial history of Karachi. The
names mean Salty Gate and Sweet
Gate respectively and refer to the two main gates of
the old walled town of Karachi that were built in 1792
and stood on the sites of the two modern
neighbourhoods. The Salty Gate opened towards
the Arabian Sea (hence the word "salty") and the
Sweet Gate opened towards the Lyari River (hence
the word "sweet"). Both gates were dismantled by
the British around 1860.

Data collected during survey:

AT C.D.G.K PARKING PLAZA:

14000

12000

10000

8000 Bike
Car
6000 Buse
Auto
4000

2000

0
08:00-10:00a.m 12:00-02:00p.m 05:00-07:00p.m
cia center
8000

7000

6000

5000
Bike

4000 Car
Bus
3000
Auto
2000

1000

0
08:00-10:00a.m 12:00-02:00p.m 05:00-07:00p.m
Zebunisa
25000

20000

15000 Bike
Car
Bus
10000
Auto

5000

0
08:00-10:00a.m 12:00-02:00p.m 05:00-07:00p.m

Lucky star
10000

9000

8000

7000

6000 Bike

5000 Car
Bus
4000
Auto
3000

2000

1000

0
8:00-10:00a.m AM 12:00-02:00p.m 05:00-07:00p.m

Pedestrian chart
25000

20000

15000 CDGK
CIA
Zaibunnisa street
10000
Lucky star

5000

0
08:00-10:00a.m 12:00-02:00p.m 05:00-07:00p.m
Photographic
survey