Abstract:
The effectiveness of the road does not only depend on the roadway condition.
Roadside activities rolling along and/or on the arterial road: roadside vendor, on-road
parking vehicle, cart, and non-motorized vehicle, dumping of construction materials, and
pedestrians related to major problems incurred by the motorists in Nekemte city. The
existing roadside activities considerably influenced the drivers’ conditions that lead them
to irritate, disturb, worry, and even enforced changing the route. Hence, this study focused
on the correlation analysis of the effect of roadside activities on traffic flow characteristics.
In this research data collection methods: field observation, interviews, questioners, and
literature reviews used to get relevant information about the problem and effects of
roadside activities in Nekemte city as per their significance. The correlation analysis
studied considering traffic flow characteristics as a dependent variable and roadside
activities as the independent variable. Speed data with the number of roadside activities’
stakeholders recorded at different times in the specified place locally called Board.
Examination of the effect of selective roadside activities on traffic flow characteristics,
using regression analysis, showed that existing roadside activities adversely influence
traffic flow characteristics by reducing the speed. The analysis of this study demonstrates
the speed reduction was 83.6%, 81.3%, 55.2%, and 62.9% correlated with the
existing pedestrians, roadside vendors, parking vehicles, and carts along and/or on the
road. On the other hand, the developed model indicated the speed on the arterial road with
roadside activities such as pedestrian, roadside vendor, parked vehicle, and carts will
predict as V = 34.6 - 0.273P - 0.326RV - 0.5C - 0.099PV. Generally, the negative
coefficient with the model confirms the activities running along and/or on travel way
obstruct traffic flow characteristics and the motorists' condition. Finally, major roadside
activities that obstructing the driver's condition and traffic flow characteristics need
attention and further studies to quantify the effects, validate the equation, and lower the
adverse impact of the activities
