Evaluating Vehicular Delay Cost of Congested Road Networks in Akure Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Estimate of the impact of congestion such as economic and productivity loss was evaluated along three selected routes namely RA, RB and RC in Akure using cost and delay. Travel speed, and Average Daily Traffic (ADT) were measured using cine camera; while fuel consumption was measured per litre using the vehicles fuel gauge. The annual person hours of delay (APHD) of 626.25 hrs, 918.51 hrs and 140.91 hrs was obtained for route A, B and C respectively. The daily wasted fuel cost for vehicle on RA, RB and RC are N785.83/day, N 959.9/day and N 130.5/day respectively, while N6,506.42/ day, N 7,676.63 and N 2,110.92 was obtained for total delay cost (TDC) on the RA, RB and RC. Also, fuel wasted associated with congestion for RA, RB and RC are 1,642,352.40 naira per year, 1,937,735.8 naira per year, and 532,838.80 naira per year respectively; this amount to economic loss. Provision of effective public transit, efficient off-street parking system, and enforcement of traffic rule and regulation were recommended as a panacea to traffic congestion problem in the study area.