AN ANALYSIS OF TRIP GENERATION AND VEHICULAR TRAFFIC PATTERN IN AKURE METROPOLIS ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

¹Awoyemi, O. K., ²Ita, A. E., ¹Oke, M. O., Abdulkarim, I. A.³ and ⁴Awotayo, G. P.

¹Department of Geography, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

²Department of Environmental Health, College of Health Technology, Cross River State

³Department of Geography, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria

⁴Department of Geography, Kwara State College of Education, Nigeria

E-mail: donkunlenzoes@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The study examined trip generation and vehicular traffic pattern Akure metropolis which is one of the fast developing urban centres in Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select five major roads in the area, while accidental sampling technique was adopted to administer two hundred copies of structured questionnaire to road users as intervals of 2km. Also, traffic situation was obtained from traffic counts and classification of vehicles at key traffic points across the roads. The result showed that civil servants and students constituted the principal road users in the area, and that majority of the road users earned between N10, 000 – N100, 000 monthly. It showed that 8 – 10am and 2 – 5 pm were the peak hours of traffic congestion in the city due to series of problems encountered by passengers such as bad roads, street parking, road narrowness, poor traffic system and impatience by motorist. The multinomial logistic model revealed that 32% percent of the variability in trips was explained by the set of independent variables. The statistical significance of the model further revealed that trips made by commuters were significantly related to their socio economic characteristics (p<0.05), while occupation accounted for most of the trips made by road users in the area. In addition, the chi square result indicated that the types of vehicles that plied the major roads varied significantly (p<0.05). Based on the findings above, the study suggested that the roles of government in providing effective and efficient transport system should be intensified. Also, more areas should be opened as a bye-pass and interlink route for free flow of vehicles, this would improve the social well-being of the people and bring about sustainable transport management.

Keywords: Urban Road Transport, Traffic Operations, Peak Hours, By-pass, Sustainable Transport Management