Estimation of Level of Service of Walkways Rehabilitation Projects of Addis Ababa City Roads Authority in Central Addis Ababa

Abstract

Every day, people are moving to perform their day to day activities and for different purpose such as for work, school, recreation and others. Currently, pedestrian walkway capacity is one of the problems in Addis Ababa. The walkway capacity and pedestrian crossing affects the socio-economic aspects of the city as a whole. Also, there are some problems occurred due to walkway problems in the city; traffic accident increases and pedestrian LOS decreases and others. The aim of this research is to estimate the LOS of walkway rehabilitation projects level of service of Addis Ababa city roads authority in central Addis Ababa and to establish measurable actions. This paper focused to assess the pedestrian level of service of the new walkway rehabilitation projects of Addis Ababa City Roads Authority at selected road sections of central Addis Ababa city. The study was based on three road sections. The selected sections were from 4 Kilo through Kidste Mariam to 6 Kilo, from Degol Square. to Kidste Mariam, from Meskel Square to Post Office. In this research, simple random probability sampling techniques was used. From 18,000 meters, only 3600 meters walkway sections are selected for assessment. The pedestrian and vehicle traffic volume on the selected sections and detail geometric data of the walkway are collected to evaluate its level of service. The traffic data was collected through manual counting. The details of geometric data and other important parameters of the walkways collected from the office of AACRA, and field measurement. The analysis performed using HCM 2010 methods, and International Road Assessment Program (iRAP) Software. Results from HCM 2010 indicated that 80% of the pedestrian sidewalks surveyed are below LOS C and the results from International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) methodology shows that poor performance of the pedestrian walkway and the average percentage decrease in iRAP score after all countermeasure was taken is 79%. Finally, most of the pedestrian walkways are in serious problems and need some improvements such as appoint school zone supervisors at school start and finish times, provide pedestrian fencing, provide pedestrian refuge at pedestrian crossings, apply speed management techniques (traffic calming) and reduce the operating vehicle speed.