AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO ROAD TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN ABUJA, NIGERIA

Abstract

Traffic congestion is a major problem, and with increasing volume of traffic at steady rate it gets worse to control by the conventional methods. The road capacity seems to be failing at accommodating additional traffic (demand for travel) by the surging (FCT) Abuja population. In countries like United States of America (USA), advanced Road infrastructure and use of navigators in every vehicle have considerably reduced congestion. However, it is unreliable for populated countries like Nigeria, due to High Latency, overload of Satellites, and implementation cost which has the potency of inducing more harm than good. The project aimed at integrating software development with geographic information science for road traffic congestion management by developing an interactive map in support of road traffic management in Phase 1, F.C.T Abuja which serves as a decision making tool for vehicle users within the area of study. Traffic counts were conducted systematically using an automated device called road tube to estimate the volume of traffic at the intersections. Key informant interviews used to elicit primary source data alongside questionnaires, taking full advantage of the opportunity to assess the verbal answers of the respondents. Information were obtained from existing records, such as Quick Bird imagery of the year 2014, as well as traffic records of road segments from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). Ten specified road segments in Phase 1, FCT, Abuja were selected using purposive sampling technique, as Phase 1 is recognized as the most intensified region of activities in the whole of FCT, Abuja. Analysis of the spatio-temporal pattern made use of techniques such as clustering methods for clustering the road traffic congestion through localization and distribution of hotspots to determine the temporal factors, Moran’s I method for spatial autocorrelation and Getis-Ord GI* function and Kernel density for clustering. The development of the interactive platform was achieved by integrating GIS (spatial and non-spatial) with software development like ArcGIS, Mapbox Tilemill, Android Studio, Xcode, and Fulcurum to produce an interactive map in form of an application platform for Phase 1, F.C.T Abuja in support of road traffic management. With this study an interactive map has been successfully created for all road users within Phase 1, FCT, Abuja that are concern about traffic. It affords road users the opportunity of making justifiable decision as far as road traffic is involved.