Abstract:
Transportation plays an important role in economic growth and development, though most of the time
cause air pollution, traffic congestion and utilize large amount of land.
Nowadays traffic congestion is increasing and becoming a challenge in the transportation sector.
There are many reasons to mitigate traffic congestion, like: delays time, wastes money, accidents and
emissions. But the most serious consequence of traffic congestion is increase emissions of greenhouse
gases and accident. Nowadays it is common to see traffic congestion at junctions in Addis Ababa,
particularly during rush time. Intersection at Harambe hotel was one which affected by traffic
congestion especially during rush time.
The objective of the research was investigating traffic congestion and possible remedies in general and
particularly, quantifying level of congestion (indicators Capacity and LOS), possible causes of traffic
congestion, effects of traffic congestion and possible remedial measures to reduce traffic congestion.
The study area was at the center of Addis Ababa, Kirkos sub-city intersection at Harambe hotel and
Filwuha. Population under study was vehicles, geometric features, traffic police, drivers and
passengers. Tools used to investigate traffic congestion were manual and video camera for traffic
counting, questionnaire for the perception of traffic police and road users, and HCM 2000 for analysis.
The data collection period was traffic count 7 days for each intersection, questionnaire 2 days and
geometric features measurement 1 day.
The results of the research were level of service (LOS) F for both approaches and intersection, and jam
density for all approaches and level of service (LOS B) for un-signalized intersection at Filwuha.
Overall, the research was investigated traffic congestion, causes of traffic congestion, its effect and
possible mitigation measures to reduce traffic congestion.
Finally, the possible remedies of the research to reduce traffic congestion were grade separation and
congestion pricing policy.
