A REPORT
BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE
MANIPAL SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND
PLANNING
Dissertation topic
Social dimension regarding traffic and road networking in
Kannur city
Introduction
• India is a country with the second largest road network in the world. Out
of the total stretch of 5.4 million km of road network, almost 97,991 km
is covered by national highways.
• It is already a huge challenge for the Indian government to provide world-
class roads, due to the sheer magnitude. To add to it, India has to spend
almost around ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 crore on the maintenance of roads every
year. The reason behind this is the increase in the private vehicle
ownership and the overburdening of roads in all major cities of the
country.
• Road networks and traffic followed by it creates a huge impact on most of
us who commute on daily basis for work, education, daily errands etc etc.
Most of us try to follow a certain schedule forourselves. when one is on the
road, we tend to feel a lack of control and a sense of helplessness.
• Congested traffic leads a significant threat that hinders the growth of a
country. Due to the growth in population and motorized vehicles, there is
huge congestion on the roadway. Increasing population and vehicles, the
transhumance of rural inhabitants to metropolitan cities hunting for
superior opportunities are the fundamental reason of the traffic jam.
Traffic Congestion may be categorized into two types, i.e. recurring type,
which is primarily taken place due to capacity and behavioural issues or
non-recurring type, which is because of accidents, construction, or
emergencies. The valuable working hours of the road users getting wasted
on the road, which secondarily adversely influenced the overall economy.
Traffic congestion not only affecting the human being, but also elevates
the pollution.
• Traffic congestion also influences accessibility and mobility. Traffic
congestion increases travel time and fuel costs, which adversely effecting
organizations and employees distributing goods and services. Its is
normally described as the traffic demand surpassing the roadway
capacity.
• Traffic congestion originates significant air pollution and noise pollution
consequently aggravate the whole atmosphere surrounding. Congestion
pricing techniques as a measure of congestion mitigation have been
suggested by the majority of the researcher. The impact of traffic
congestion can be related to Fuel expenditure cost, Transit cost, Health
associated matters and Environment concerned matter
Goals and hypothesis
The current traffic framework is inadequate to encounter the traffic demand due
to an exponential increase in population as well vehicle. This research goal is to
ensure the traffic congestion impacts of the urban road network of a city in India
and how it impacts daily routines of the working population. Congestion indices
have been evaluated to examine the buffer time required to reduce the impact of
congestion on travellers. Explores in understanding the infrastructure of the
roads in Kannur city, which is located at the north part of Kerala State,
addressing social concerns faced due to traffic congestion and bad road
networking systems. Identified congested road and focuses on how traffic
impacts one’s daily routine; how much it affects psychologically and physically.
listing out how current road system also impacts on the air quality of the city
which again come hand in hand with respect to how it affects people’s health.
Methods
The method followed in doing this dissertation follows
1) Understanding the current infrastructure for roads in Kannur city
2) Map scanning : Understanding the connectivity of the secondary roads
that causes congestion on the highway
3) Data collection:
• number of different types of vehicles
• traffic count during the peak hours
4) Calculation of congestion indices: overall performance
of the urban roadway and calculating planning time index taking 2 most
congested roads
5) Collecting data on how congestion impacts peoples health
6) Research on how air quality have changed due to lessening of congestion
during covid
Results (data and observations)
The literature review is did on a city in Kerala, India called Kannur. Kannur
district is one of the 14 districts in the state of Kerala, India, situated northern
part of the Kerala. The town of Kannur is the district headquarters, and gives
the district its name. Kannur district is bounded by the western ghats, which
forms the Karnataka state. The Arabian sea lies to the west. Kannur is the most
urbanised district in Kerala, with more than 50% of its residents living in urban
areas.
Kannur has urban population of 12,12,898 which is the second largest in Kerala.
Road infrastructure
The west coast road from mahe to talapady is the backbone of the road system
in Kannur district. This is part of the national highway NH 66 . The length of
public works department roads in Kannur district is 1421kms. The asphalt
topped roads have a length of 1061 kms . There are 6848km panchayat roads.
The length of the national highway in the district is 80.5kms.
The roads that join this national highway approaching to Kannur are the most
congested.
Populus
The total population of Kannur city region is 1,640,986. The male population of
which is 755,764 while female population is 885,222. Kannur Municipality has
total administration over 11,418 houses.
Out of total population, 15,324 were engaged in work or business activity.
Kannur Municipality has total administration over 11,418 houses.
Out of total population, 15,324 were engaged in work or business activity.
Of this 12,424 were males while 2,900 were females.
In census survey, worker is defined as person who does business, job, service,
and cultivator and labour activity. Of total 15324 working population, 91.18 %
were engaged in Main Work while 8.82 % of total workers were engaged in
Marginal Work. (current census)
The average working hours in Kannur is from 8am to 6pm
The traffic volume count was executed during morning rush hours (from 8.00
A.M.to 10.00 A.M) and off-peak hours (from 2.00 P.M. to 3.00 P.M.)
Impacts of traffic congestion
The magnitude of traffic not only creates congestion problems, but also give rise
to a lot of other issues. Air pollution and sound pollution are two major issues
that are rising to alarming proportions in the recent years. It not only affects
people who are actually driving but also people who are staying indoors. These
issues are creating huge problems for senior citizens and children.
Traffic, and the stress caused by having to deal with it on a daily basis, is
associated with poorer well-being of urban populations. A 2004 multilevel
analysis published in the journal Social Science and Medicine found populations
living in areas with high traffic reported more depressive symptoms, which arose
out of the unpredictability of traffic and the feeling of helplessness it invoked,
researchers found (https://theswaddle.com/traffic-mental-health-problems/)
Traffic-induced stress is not just isolated to people’s feelings while stuck in a jam
— it can often spill over into other areas of life, which exacerbates life’s other
stressors. For example, research by the University of the West of England found
long commutes to and from work — often as a result of urban traffic jams —
reduce job and life satisfaction, which further worsens mental health.
Because of congestion people are forced to spend extra time on the road, which
directly affecting the health of the individuals. The impact of health due to
congestion cannot be neglected. The data have been collected as mentioned
sources to study the impact of congestion on health related issues. From the
collected response we found that, 81% individuals are getting affected because of
traffic congestion, Whereas 16% individuals gave a response that their health
was not getting affected due to traffic congestion and 3% response did not have
any conclusive answer
The study has categorized the symptoms of suffering in different ways, such as
respiratory complication, neuralgia related difficulties, psychological distress,
trouble in hearing, unpredicted sweating, fatigue, suffocation, dust allergy,
difficulties in visibility, digestion problem, dehydration
Its concluded that the majority of the suffering is related to breathing (20%),
headache (18%), mental stress (16%) and sweating (15%), which can be
considered as high level of distresses. Whereas hearing (8%), tiredness (10%) and
dust allergy (6%) considered as a moderate level of distresses. Low level of
distresses is suffocation (3%), Eye problem (3%) and others e.g. digestion
problem, dehydration etc.
People are forced to wasting money in different methods due to traffic
congestion, such as wasting man hour, additional transportation cost,
additional fuel consumption, vehicle operating and maintenance cost and
diverse cost. From the collected data the study found that travellers are
wasting 50% of their traffic hourly during the journey, e.g. if the traveller
requires 1 hour during off peak hours for the journey and the same length of the
road will take 1.30 hours to the traveller during the peak hours. The extra time,
which they can transform towards precious working hour that could contribute
to the overall economy.
Traffic congestion and air quality post covid
Kannur has the highest air pollution in Kerala. The State Pollution Control
Board (PCB) is currently monitoring ambient air quality at 30 stations as part of
its ongoing mission to reduce air pollution.
During the lockdown brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic air quality was
seen to improve. Nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide concentrations were
decreased by 61 per cent and 71 per cent respectively. The concentration of PM10
and PM2.5 were observed to decline significantly by 61 per cent and 53 per cent
respectively. This was mainly due to the lack of traffic on the then empty roads
and the lack of some industries polluting the skies with their emissions
High levels of air pollution can cause immediate problems such as aggravated
cardiovascular and respiratory illness. High pollution levels add stress to the
heart and lungs, which must work harder to supply the body with the correct
amount of oxygen. Cells within the respiratory system are vulnerable and can
easily be damaged.
If the level of exposure continues for a longer period of time then this can lead to
the accelerated aging of the lungs which in turn leads to loss of lung capacity and
thus a decrease in their function. Diseases such as asthma, bronchitis,
emphysema, and possibly cancer develop under such circumstances. This can
lead to a shortened lifespan.
Of course, some people are more susceptible to poor quality air than others.
Individuals with pre-existing respiratory problems will be amongst the first to
suffer. Pregnant women and senior citizens as well as children under the age of
14 years should take extra care when exposed. Those who need to work outside
or who take exercise outdoors will also have to be more aware of the situation.
Quality of the road
Fraudulent contracts and agreements are said to be made with some favoured
contractors. Many times, the contractors are allegedly thought to be using bad
quality materials, old technologies and outdated specifications for the building of
roads.
Bad road quality due to overloading; Urban roads are extremely congested due to
heavy traffic caused by private vehicles. This over-usage rapidly degrades the
quality of roads, and most of the expenditure meant for expansion of roads is
spent on the maintenance. It’s a vicious circle where bad roads cause traffic
problems, and the traffic does not allow scope for the development of new roads.
Road being the biggest mode of transportation; India has yet not been able to tap
into the potential for railway and air transport, due to which there exists a huge
pressure on the Indian roads.
In such situations, it becomes difficult to maintain the quality of roads, because
most of the roads are overburdened and extremely busy throughout the year. To
add to it, India has a varied topography across the country, and the variations in
weather and climate make it extremely tough to control the quality of roads.
Proposed projects by Kerala road fund board
Public Works and Tourism Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas has said that
immediate steps will be taken to reduce traffic congestion in Kannur city and
surrounding areas. He was speaking at a meeting of people’s representatives and
officials on Wednesday.
“Kannur city is one of the busiest areas from Kasaragod to
Thiruvananthapuram. Traffic congestion is a major obstacle to the development
not only of Kannur but also of Malabar,” the Minister said.
The Kannur city road improvement project, including the proposed underpass
and the Kannur flyover, will be implemented with utmost priority.
The Minister said that Kannur is a district with immense potential in the field of
tourism.
Government vide order (Rt) No. 1159/2017/PWD dated 03.08.2017 has accorded
Administrative sanction for implementing Kannur City Road Improvement
Project on DBFOT-Annuity mode at an estimated cost of Rs. 401.467 Crores. The
Detailed Project Report prepared by L&T Infra Engineering Limited comprises
11 corridors covering 44.065 km for development – One minor bridge parallel to
the existing minor bridge at Thazhe Chovva and two numbers of 2-lane ROBs
(one at Pannenpara level cross in Chalad-Pallikunnu-Kunjipally road and the
other at Kannur South Level cross in Thayyil Thekilapeedika Road) are the
structures proposed to be developed under this project.
Future work
The future of this research holds on deeper investigation on mitigating the
congestion. Learning how a proper road infrastructure of an urban city is.
Providing accurate sustainable measures by conducting multiple surveys on the
travellers in Kannur city. Now that we know how it impacts human and the
environment, deeper understanding of the city will allow to be able propose
various solutions that could help in lessening the traffic congestion.
Conclusion
The crux of the problem of urban transport is congestion of traffic. This result in
increased number of trips, increased journey time, travel cost, mental agony
and reduced accessibility. The study gave a better insight on how to proceed
with making solutions which mentioned with the ongoing infrastructure projects
by the government. This research aims to get on hold of all social impacts that
could be put into future road networking systems in Kannur to mitigate
congestion.
References
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332471072_Identification_of_Accident_
Hot_Spots_A_GIS_Based_Implementation_for_Kannur_District_Kerala
https://krfb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/RFP-for-Kannur-City-Road-
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