Urban

Question 1

1.b) for named city in developing world explain why it suffers traffic congestion

Answer 1

• Mumbai- group of 7 islands on west coast of India- little room for construction of new roads due to lack of land
• large concentration of all the commercial, admin and industry to south of Mumbai- large numbers of pop commutes to small and narrow peninsula of land
• pop of Mumbai grown so rapidly and continues to do so- estimated that the city has grown by about 5 million in past 15 years- two and three car families increased- more pressure on roads
• old infrastructure unable to cope with increasing pop- about 6 million people travel on overcrowded trains everyday
• tram system of early sixties dismantled- decision made shortsightedly- if left pressure would be relieved on other forms of transport- help traffic flow
• people of Mumbai- more affluent- more cars bought- only 1.8 million registered at present, about 450 new vehicles registered everyday
• traffic jams caused by narrow roads- made narrower by parked vehicles causing lanes to merge- congestion
• solutions such as Bandra-Worli Sealink- increased traffic flowing into CBD- added to existing congestion problems in CBD- made worse by poor lane discipline- interrupts traffic flow
• no proper drainage system- leaves roads flooded- speeds up process of potholes forming- made worse by heavy rain during monsoon season and poor construction- potholes require road works- further congestion
• rickshaws- introduced to replace Victoria’s in Mumbai- 300,000 on road- congestion increased as well as air and noise pollution levels