PROBLEMS OF TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM IN BARDDHAMAN MUNICIPAL AREA, WEST BENGAL SHYAMAL DUTTA & BISWARANJAN MISTRI ABSTRACT: Transport is a system by which passengers and goods are carried from one place to another. Beside this, transport routes are the basic economic arteries of an area. Development of cheap and efficient means of transport is prerequisite for the progress of cultural landscape on earth’s surface. Transport system provides a very important link between production and consumption and acts as the sinews of all sector of economy with advancement of an area. The amount of traffic moving in an area is a measure of its progress. But in recent days hasty as well as haphazard expansion of urban landscape, ever increasing numbers of vehicles, unscientific route geometry and network system along with disobeying tendency of traffic rules create lots of civic as well as environmental problems. Barddhaman Municipal area is surrounded by agriculturally developed vast countryside which primarily satisfies its secondary, tertiary, quaternary and quinary demands from the urban settlement skyrocketing to its skyscraper. Ever increasing number of educational institutions, commercial infrastructure, administrative establishments, and especially medical facilities all are heavily depend upon the misfit transportation system inherited lot of problems in the study area. This research work highlights the environmental problems and civic nuisance in different dimensions created by the road network and modern transportation system in the municipal area. This study has been done through spatial network analysis by using modern tools and techniques. Finally some suggestions have been drawn for remedial measures for betterment of the transport system and beautifying the face of the urban landscape. INTRODUCTION Transport is the underlying force in the location, growth, rank-size and functional differentiation of cities. Adequate cheap and efficient passenger transport facilities are essential requirement of urban life. Transport routes are the basic economic arteries of an area. Well organized, inexpensive and efficient transport facilities are of the first importance in the economic and social life of any cities and towns. Burdwan being a district head quarter and an important railway junction is getting busier day by day. There are important Govt. offices, hospital, schools, colleges, university and trading centers all over the city. On the other hand being a century old town it also features with narrow and congested roads, lanes and by-lanes. There has been increasing demand for vehicular services all over the city resulting from rapid urbanization. All of these events gives birth numerous environmental problems to the residents of this 1
municipality. This empirical study highlights some these environmental issues regarding road condition and transportation system, their causality and also to draw some remedial planning notes for improvement of traffic and transport system. Study Area The study area, Barddhaman Municipality was designated as municipality in 1865. It is one of the principal urban centers and civil stations of southern West Bengal, is more or less centrally located in the Barddhaman District. It is situated in the left bank of Damodar River. Latitudinal Extension ranges from 23º 12'N
to
23º
17'N
and
longitudinal extension ranges from 87º 49'E to 87º 53'E (Fig.No.1). It has an areal coverage of 23.04 Km² with a population of 2, 85,602 (Census, 2001). Total area is divided into 35 wards. The city is situated 1100 km from New Delhi and a little less than 100 km north-west of Kolkata on the Grand Trunk Road (NH-2) and Eastern Railway.
FIG: 1
Objectives The main objectives of this study are as follows: (i)
To measure the characteristics of road networks such as connectivity, accessibility and centrality, density and length of road networks.
(ii)
To study the existing scenario of road network, traffic condition, street lightening & street signaling in Barddhaman Municipality.
(iii)
To identify the problems faced by residents due to this transportation system in this municipal area. 2
(iv)
To measure the level of satisfaction of the residents about the quality of road condition and transportation system through perception survey.
(v)
To chalk out feasible alternative management-plan for sustainable transportation facility.
DATABASE AND METHODS The entire work is based on primary as well as secondary data. Primary information regarding identification of source of traffic congestion and road jam and interaction with the local people has also been conducted. District Census Handbook(Barddhaman, 2001) and Official Website of Barddhaman Municipality and other necessary information from Books, Journals, research report published as well as unpublished and retrieved web resources have been consulted as the secondary sources of data. For intensive spatial analysis of road network different indices are being used for measuring centrality, connectivity and accessibility in the municipal area. These are as follows: TABLE 1: DIFFERENT INDICES OF SPATIAL NETWORKS ANALYSIS Objectives Connectivity
Accessibility
Centrality
Indices Alpha Index (α) Beta Index (β) Gamma Index ( γ ) Cyclomatic Number (µ)
Formula α=(e-v+1)/2v-5 β= e/V γ= e/3(v-2) µ= e-v+p
Shortest path Analysis with Shimble Index and Associated Number Pi Index (π) Eta Index (η)
-
Abbreviation e= No. of Edges, v= No. of vertices, p= No. of nonconnected sub-graph, c=Total Mileage of a given Transport Network , d=Distance of Diameter, M= Total Network Length (km),E= observed number of edges
π=c/d η=M/E
Collected information are quantified, analyzed and represented with the help of Microsoft Word-2003, Microsoft Excel-2003 Software and MapInfo Professional-7.0 Software. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Overview of Transport Network and Road Condition Road Network: There are total 289.62 km of surfaced and unsurfaced road in the municipal area having a road density of 12.57 km per sq.km. The municipality and Public Welfare Department (PWD) maintain roads. Grand Trunk (G.T.) Road being the main regional road passes through the heart of the town from south-east to north-west direction. 3
Two major arterial roads from Kalna and Katwa enter the town and meet at G.T. Road and pass through it before leaving Burdwan. G.T. Road being the nerve of the town, most of the major administrative institutions and commercial establishments are located on the both side of the arterial roads creating congestion and bottleneck of traffic during most of the time. Surface roads mainly comprise black top in Burdwan Municipality; beside there are also water bound macadam and cement- concrete roads (Fig No.2). According to data provided by municipality, there are about 35 km road with 80 feet width, 15 km with 40feet width and about 90 km road with less than 20 feet width (Fig No. 3). Among them 35 km of roads has divider.
LENGTH IN KM
TYPES OF ROADS 200
TYPES OF THE ROAD (ACCORDING TO MATERIALS)
166.06
150
9%
88.56
100 35
50
1.2
28%
WATERBOUND MACADAM BLACK TOP
0 SURFACE ROAD MAINTAINED BY BM SURFACE ROAD MAINTAINED BY PWD UNSURFACED ROAD FOOTPATH
CEMENT CONCREAT
63%
FIG. 2
FIG. 3 (Source: Barddhaman Municipality, 2010)
Traffic Condition: Burdwan being a district headquarter and an important railway junction, vast agriculturally developed vast country side, is getting busier day by day. On the other hand, being a century old town it also features unplanned, misfit road network with narrow and congested roads, lanes and by lanes. Road space is limited with paucity of scope for widening of major roads aggravating the misery of the transport system. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ROAD LENGTH AND ROAD WIDTH 21%
TRIP PURPOSES OF TRAFFIC 10%
43%
60 FEET
52%
WORK TRIP
15%
80 FEET
9%
EDUCATION SHOPPING
20FEET 18%
OTHERS
< 20 FEET
32%
FIG. 4
FIG. 5 (Source: Barddhaman Municipality, 2010)
4
Out of total road, municipality has identified 80 km roads as high density roads, 90 km as moderate and 100 km to be low density road. The regional traffic forms a major portion of the traffic within municipal area. Among them 43% comes for working purpose, 32% for educational purpose and rest of 15% for shopping purpose (Fig No.5). Street Lightening: It is very much essential in night time in the roads. Burdwan Municipality has taken over charges of maintaining streetlights from WBSEB in the year 1986 and till then the exercising the responsibilities. In total Municipal area 12000 street lights are placed in 9000 poles and total no. of people served by this facility is 2, 60,000. But in the interior parts of the wards this facility is not so much effective as in open roads. Spatial Pattern of Road Networks Networks are structures designed to tie together the nodes e.g., routes whether they be flow of people, goods or money. A transport network is then ‘set of geographic locations interconnected in a system by a number of routes’ (Kanksy, 1963). The geometric structure of a network is the topological pattern formed by those elements namely the nodes and the routes. For intensive spatial analysis of road transportation in Barddhaman Municipality, there needs a network analysis. The present analysis is based on three aspects, viz. Connectivity, Centrality and Accessibility.
FIG. 6 5
On the basis of direct connectivity matrix connectivity map is prepared. This map reveals the central area comprising the Ward No. 3, 7, 9, 10, 19, 21, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35 has the high degree of connectivity in Barddhaman Municipality. (Fig. No.7) TABLE 1: DIFFERENT VALUES OF INDICES IN BARDDHAMAN MUNICIPAL AREA Measurement of Connectivity Number of Edges or Arcs 79 Number of Vertices or Nodes 35 Number of Non-connected 1 Sub Graph Alpha Index (α) 0.69 Beta Index (β) 2.26 Gamma Index ( γ ) 0.8 Cyclomatic Number (µ)
Measurement of Centrality Total Mileage of a given Transport Network (km) Distance of Diameter (km)
50.12 6.17
Total Network Length (km)
50.12
The observed number of edges Pi Index (π) Eta Index (η)
79 6.17 0.63
45
Source: Calculated by Authors
FIG. 7
The centrality of nodes on a network may be stated in terms of their Koning number. The lowest koning number represents the most central zone. After measuring the koning number of all the wards by shortest path matrix a Centrality map has been prepared. Ward No. 7, 18, 19, 20, 21, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 have the most central location in Barddhaman Municipality (Fig No.8). Pi index value (π = 6.17) and Eta index (η =0.63) 6
average developed as well as roughly structural relationship between the transport networks.
FIG.8
FIG. 9
7
One of the most important attributes of a transportation network relates to accessibility and the geographer is particularly concerned with accessibility as location feature (Robinson and Bamford, 1978). When examining a transportation network, a geographer is also interested in node-linkage associations in terms of accessibility. By calculating Associated number and Shimble index through Shortest Path Matrix an accessibility map has been prepared, which clearly depicts the Wards No. 2, 3, 7, 9, 10,17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 have the low Shimble index value as well as high degree of accessibility. (Fig. No. 9) People’s Perception about Road Condition and Transportation facilities (i)From the view point of city dwellers it is clear that present day road and transport system of different wards is very much problematic to them. Various reasons are inherent in the authoritative management system as wide road is very less in the city. As a result they face traffic congestion daily in peak hours of 11am and 4pm. Above 90% people of ward no. 31 and 32 face daily road jam in peak hours because this wards are situated beside B.C. Road(Big Shops) and Khosbagan Area(Medical shops and different form of medical institutions). (ii)On the other hand road cleaning status is not good in all the wards. Municipal workers come to clean the road early morning but lack of their duty also found there. They only sweep the main roads. But the roads in interior part of the wards remain dirty. Even in the slum area they do not visit once in a month. As a result the slum areas (Lashkardighi, Verikhana) become polluted due to road side garbage and waste material. (iii)Traffic jam also increased due to improper management of traffic personals. Sometimes traffic disobeys the rules and suffered by them. (iv)Air pollution due to excessive dust is mostly effective in ward no. 31 and 32. Here 80% and 72% of households respectively reported that problem (field Survey, 2010). Here maximum traffic flows day and night in all over municipality because B.C. Road and R.B.Ghosh intersect these two wards. Degradation of air quality due to vehicular emission is also very high in ward no. 31 and 32. Major Causes behind such Problems (i)Encroachment of road by unauthorized shops along B.C. Road and R.B. Ghosh Road of Khosbagan is the major reason behind daily traffic jam and road congestion. They occupy footpaths arbitrarily and create nuisance. 8
(ii)Beside encroachment by shops, encroachment of vehicular carriageway such as rickshaw stand, and municipal vats and their on road transformation status create traffic jam. Near Harisava School of ward no. 32 and in Tentultala bazar of ward no. 31 this is regular scenario. (iii)There is lack of parking places for motor bikes, cycles and cars in all parts of the wards. Then public park their vehicles illegally on road. It is regular phenomena in B.C. Road which causes traffic congestion. (iv)There is lack of proper geometry in roads such as restricted sight distance, carriageway alignment, intersections on various roads and road dividers present in all parts which are also responsible for such regular problems .There is no segregation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, so they often face fatal accident on road. (v)Adding with above all lack of proper traffic control system at the intersection of roads is present in the nodes. So traffic often disobeys the rules. It is very common near Curzon gate Traffic crossing and Raniganj Chowmatha of ward no. 31. (vi) Vehicular traffic was at most times bumper to bumper and sometimes at a stand still every time it rained. Hence the increased amount of exhaust gases in the air neglected the effect of monsoon rains. TABLE 3: STATISTICALLY SUMMERY OF AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STATUS OF BURDWAN MUNICIPALITY DURING PRE AND POST MONSOON (AVG. STANDARD AMOUNT: RSPM-100µg/m³, SO2-80 µg/m³,, NO2-80 µg/m³,) RSPM (µm/m³)
SO2 (µm/m³)
NO2 (µm/m³)
Premonsoon
Postmonsoon
Premonsoon
Postmonsoon
Premonsoon
Postmonsoon
Maximum
188.56 363.6
53.03 141.0
5.12 26.69
92.51 238.19
162.85 937.25
Minimum
54.45
4.48
0.34
8.51 23.11 Below Detection Level
3.79
23.91
Average
Source:Chattopadhya, S., Gupta, S., & Saha, R. N. (2010)
9
(vii) Noise pollution is one of the inavoidable output from this trasport system.Locality along the main roads (e.g. G.T. Road, B.C. Road, Khosbagan area, Station road) are more effected by the intolerable noise produced from the horns of vehicles main ly in the two rush hours, one at 10 a.m.-12 noon and another is 4-6 p.m. MANAGEMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS: To minimize the problems of transport and road-associated problems in the study area residents, municipality authority and roadside shopkeepers as well as encroachers of footpath should follow some suggestions. These are as follows: (i)At first Municipality authority and PWD should take initiative to change the roadgeometry, because it is the major cause of all problems. Especially in B.C. Road and Khosbagan crossing bottleneck shape of road create daily traffic congestion during peak hour. Raniganj Bazar crossing is mostly affected point in the study area. Road should be widened and straight. (ii)On the other hand Municipality authority should impose strict laws against the shopkeepers who has illegally encroached the footpath mainly along the B.C. Road. The often load and unload their goods on road, which must be eradicated from roadside. (iii)There is lack of parking places for cycle, motorcycle and motorcar in Burdwan Municipality. So they occupy half of roads with their vehicles during peak hours of marketing and shopping. Authority should arrange proper and cheap parking place so that road encroachment may be minimized. (iv)Traffic control authority does not play their duty properly except Curzon gate traffic control office. So disobeying of traffic rules and fatal accidents in open road is become daily events. Traffic authority should play their duty properly as well as strictly. (v)There is no provision of separate movement of fast-moving and slow-moving vehicles. During office hours students, aged person face problems to pass the road. Authority should take better provision to separate two types of moving vehicles to mitigate such problems. (vi)Road condition in the interior area is very bad; even there is no road in Lashkardighi slum area of ward no.31. There is no provision of street lightening in those areas. Authority
10
should take suitable measures to build up roads and facilitate street light in those interior part of the study area. (vii)Except the major roads (B.C. Road, R.B. Ghosh Road etc.) condition of others road mainly belongs to Raniganj bazar ward no.31 and Pakmaragali of ward no.32 is very bad. They are full of pot holes. Municipality authority should maintain the road quality at a regular interval throughout the year. (viii)At last residents of the locality of their respective wards should stop to throw daily waste and sludge open road. So those roads become clean automatically whole day. REFERENCES AND SELECTED READINGS Barddhaman Municipality. (2010). Developmental report. Chattopadhya, S., Gupta, S., & Saha, R. N. (2010). Spatial and temporal variation of urban air quality: a GIS approach. Journal of Environmental Protection (1), 266-277. Cole, J.P. and King, C.A.M. (1968) Quantitative Geography, John Wiley Debnath, S. (2010). Morphology of Burdwan town, related problems and prospect. Indian Journal of Landscape Systems and Ecological Studies , 33 (1), 217-222. Kansky, K.J. (1963) Structure of Transport Networks: Relationships between Network Geometry and Regional Characteristics, University of Chicago, Dept. of Geography Research Paper Mo. 84 Khullar, D.R. (2005) India: a Comprehensive Geography .New Delhi: Kalyani Publications Robinson, H. and Bamford, C.G. (1978), Geography of Transport, Mcdonald and Evans. Siddhartha, K., & Mukherjee, S. (2009). Cities urbanization and urban systems (7th revised ed.). New Delhi: Kisalaya. Singh, S., & Singh, S. (2009). Environmental geography (1st revised ed.). Allahabad: Prayag pustak Bhawan. Taffe, E. J. and Gauther, H.L. (1973). Geography of Transportation, Prentice Hall, New Delhi.
Shyamal Dutta Assistant Teacher, Gadadharpur Bazar Junior High School, Birbhum (W.B)
[email protected] & Biswaranjan Mistri Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, The University of Burdwan (W.B.)
[email protected] 11
