6TH International Congress on Technology - Engineering - Kuala Lumpur3 - Malaysia (2018-07-19)

Performance Evaluation Of Jatrabari-gulistan Flyover (mayor Mohammad Hanif Flyover)

Despite expert opinions and scholarly research outcomes against construction of flyovers in urban areas, Government of Bangladesh is continuously focusing on building of new flyovers throughout the country with an aim to increase mobility and facilitate the city dwellers with a reliable transport network free from the perennial traffic congestion. So far, eight flyovers have been constructed in the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka and out of them, six are partially grade separated flyovers. As full grade separation has the potential to eliminate conflicts between rail-road traffic and thereby can reduce both congestion and accidents, a simple question arises then how these partially grade-separated flyovers are performing to fulfill their objectives. Hence, this study is being carried out in an effort to assess how far the objectives have been met through the construction of flyovers in Dhaka city on a particular focus on the city’s longest flyover Jatrabari-Gulistan Flyover (Mayor Mohammad Hanif Flyover). Methodological survey and extensive analyses were performed incorporating temporal variation (weekday, day; weekday, night; weekend, day; weekend, night) of traffic flow and travel speed to assess the mobility and accessibility condition of the studied flyover. Assessment of traffic flow reveals that maximum number of vehicles travelling at above-grade and minimum at at-grade are 79.78 % and 20.22 % respectively at weekend, day. Whereas, minimum number of vehicles travelling at above-grade and maximum at at-grade are 66.08 % and 33.92 % respectively at weekday, night and the overall the ratio of above-grade to at-grade flow is only 2.42:1. This gives an indication that this flyover has successfully segregated the traffic and there is an increasing trend to use flyover by vehicular traffic. In addition to that, considering the combined situation, total night flow exceeded the day flow by 29.38 % above grade and 53.02 % at grade respectively. On the other hand, total weekday flow exceeded weekend flow by 38.46 % above grade and by 119.97% at grade respectively. This indicates that flow of vehicular traffic increases at weekday, night. Although the flyover is successful in fulfilling the objectives of segregating rail and road traffic in present traffic scenario, it will be inadequate to meet the future demand. In addition to that, it has failed to provide any facility to Non-Motorized Vehicles (NMVs). 99.76 % of total NMVs are forced to use at-grade road and hence, are not getting benefit from above grade facilities. Also, the travel speed of the vehicles using this flyover is found unsatisfactory. The study found that about three quarters of the vehicles travel above grade. Even though a lower percentage of vehicles travel at grade, vehicles travel 2.5 times slower at grade compared to above grade because of road obstruction and hazardous environment.
Md. Rakibul Islam, Nafis Anwari, Md. Shamsul Hoque