Effectiveness of pedestrian overpasses in metropolitan Dhaka

Abstract

A study has been made on the effectiveness of pedestrian Overpasses in the Dhaka Metropolitan area. On this aspect, the pedestrian overpasses at Farmgate and at Zia-International Airport were investigated. This research includes both the field investigations and data analyses. The field investigation includes site surveys, pedestrian volume counts, pedestrian interviews at each of the overpasses. Based on the collected data, the selected pedestrian overpasses are analysed to evaluate the effectiveness in terms of their usage. The percentage of pedestrian using overpass, zebra crossing and violators were determined. At Farmgate, it was found that about 50 percent are using the overpass, 37 percent using the zebra crossing and the remaining 13 p~rcent are crossing illegally. At Zia-International Airport, about 53 percent are using overpass and the remaining 47 percent are crossing illegally. The pedestr ian interview data were collected and analysed to find out the causes of not-using the existing overpasses. Some of the reasons for not-using the overpasses were difficult to climb-up (23%), overpass were too high (22%), and too far from the pedestrian travel route (17%). These data were also analysed to see the pedestrian distribution for different causes like pedestrian preference, occupation, age group etc. The actual peak hour volume was compared with the design capacity for the present and the future conditions. It was found that at Farmgate, the facility would experience sporadic and unstable condition after 20 years. Due to limitations of time, it is not possible to focus on all aspects of pedestrian travel in detail. In order to get a more detailed and comprehensive results, a long term pedestrian research programme may be contemplated in the future.