Dr Asangba Tzudir
The repair works of the Tragopan point flyover has come at a wrong time considering the approaching festive season where people from different parts of the state will flock to Dimapur for shopping and which will add to the traffic congestion. The ‘glorious’ Naga weddings and the approaching 25th Edition of the Hornbill Festival will add to the woes especially those travelling between Dimapur and Kohima. However, the urgent need for repair of the said flyover has been some time now and could have been done when the need for repair was first identified.
While the time required to complete the repair is not known, one would think a time frame for repair completion is set, and also hope that the repair is done before the peak of the festive season sets in. Now, with the closure of the flyover, and because of the various diversions, it has not only created confusion but the heavy traffic congestion almost everywhere causes unprecedented delays.
As such there is need for immediate traffic planning for the current situation and the already setting in festive season, and long term traffic planning where DMC can play a role. Traffic planning goes beyond the daily normal direction and control at different traffic points and intersections by traffic police. The present traffic situation calls for proper traffic planning. To cite an instance, it involves the kind of traffic planning that goes to the professional extent of knowing the number of vehicles that passes through the stretch between, say, Holy Cross Traffic point and the Bata Char Ali point, the degree of congestion, the slowness of the traffic movement and also the time taken to travel a particular stretch.
Now who are traffic planners and what they do. Traffic planners are professionals that designs, operates, manages transportation systems and implement the plans to ensure safe, efficient, and convenient movement of vehicles, two-wheelers including bicycle and pedestrians. Traffic planners are also referred to as transportation safety planners, highway safety planners, transportation planners, or urban or regional planners. The main responsibilities of Traffic planners includes - traffic flow optimization; intersection design and signalization; road network planning and design; traffic signal timing and coordination; pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure planning; traffic volume and speed studies; accident analysis and safety improvement, and traffic management during special events. Traffic planners use transportation and traffic flow data to create models of traffic flow and make predictions to avoid congestion. They also design surveys and research methods to collect data for traffic forecasts. Based on such data analysis, they develop and coordinate action plans to improve traffic systems and subsequent implementation.
Traffic planning most importantly relies on tools and techniques like the traffic simulation models; traffic signal control software; Geographic Information Systems (GIS); traffic counting and survey equipment, and Statistical analysis software. The application of these tools and techniques will go a long way in highway traffic planning, urban traffic planning, public transportation planning, traffic safety engineering, and Smart Transportation Systems.
Rapid urbanization leading to increased number of vehicles adds to the road congestion, then the road condition that deteriorates after every rain, the festive season, the Dimapur-Kohima road condition, and the closure of the Tragopan point flyover for repair only add to the traffic woes, and looking at the traffic police especially in Dimapur one can easily see whether they are trained or not, and thus proper training of the traffic police is of paramount necessity.
On the whole, the services of traffic planners are required to deal with the present traffic situation, so also for standardization of the traffic system in the long run. As such, in order to revamp the traffic system and for better and smooth flow of traffic and for safer transportation system, the Dimapur Municipal Council can really adopt a policy measure of traffic planning and then invest in professional traffic planning, which is an integral component of city planning.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir writes guest editorials for The Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
