Development of a framework for feasibility study of urban road tunnel project in dense urban setting

Abstract

The rapid growth of population in Dhaka City has led to a growing demand for transport. The city’s infrastructure, services, and management are insufficient to meet the demand and there is little scope to develop any new roads within the limited and congested area. In order to ease the traffic problem and improve the living standards of city dwellers there is a tremendous need for improving transport accessibility and mobility for the residents of city, reducing traffic congestion and addressing long term transport planning. Due to limited land availability in dense city area often urban traffic tunnels are suggested as new connectivity means. Interfacing the urban traffic tunnels with other transportation links and construction difficulty in dense urban setting make such project complex requiring detailed feasibility study for successful implementation. In line with this, there is a need to develop a framework for feasibility study of urban road tunnel project in dense urban setting, which often calls for multi agency/stakeholders’ initiatives for developing the project. In absence of a comprehensive study framework for such project, important and critical issues may be left aside which might prove to be costly mistakes during/after project implementation. In this study, analyzing various city examples of 17 Tunnel projects, a comprehensive study framework has been developed which has been critically validated for the case of Jahangir Gate to Rokeya Sarani Road Tunnel project in Dhaka. The validation exercise reveals that apart from all engineering, technical and safety issues, institutional involvement in different phases of project and their relationship/hierarchy with respect to implementing agency should also be mapped. A comprehensive framework has been suggested from this study which may help city authorities for undertaking such tunnel projects in dense urban setting such as Dhaka. The outcome of this study will Guide to undertake comprehensive, strategic network-wide investigation, feasibility study and traffic evaluation.