Traffic explosion: Kathmandu begs for more road
Regular traffic jams in the Valley are no surprise to us, but if one considers the increase in the number of vehicles, and compares it with the extension of roads in the country’s most populous city, there certainly is one conclusion: there are more vehicles here than the roads can handle.
While there were 23,143 vehicles registered in Bagmati zone as of 2003, the number crossed 50,000 in 2009. According to the Department of Transport Management (DoTM), in the last five years (2006-010), the number of vehicles registered in the zone reached 249,219—more than half of all the vehicles registered in the country.
“The number of vehicles in the Valley is definitely more than what its roads can take,” said Metropolitan Traffic Police Superintendent Rabi Raj Shrestha. “If all the vehicles in the Valley plied on the roads at a time, there would be hardly any space left.”
Strangely, the DOR does not have the data on the road length for the last five years. However, its website states there was a mere 8.57 percent growth in road length in the two years between 2002 and 2004.
DoTM Director General Sharad Chandra Paudyal, however, denies the roads cannot handle the vehicles. He blames poor traffic management, rather than the road length, for the traffic problem.
“Traffic management should be systematic. Drivers should park vehicles at the right place and the traffic police should manage the situation better.” Suraj Sigdel, senior divisional engineer at the DoR, said. He, nevertheless, admitted that roads have not been extended in the Valley, except occasional maintenance of the existing roads, in the face of the increase in vehicles.
Posted on: 2011-04-17 09:02
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