Traffic congestion in Bangladesh-causes and solutions: a study of Chittagong metropolitan city

Abstract

One of the most challenging and complicated issues in the present decade for Bangladesh is the traffic problem. Presently, traffic congestion problem in Bangladesh are increasing at an alarming rate. The traffic problem has become to a very dangerous arena and has already implicit agonizing extent in the cities of Bangladesh. The traffic congestion cost is US$3 Billion a year and the city losses over 8 million work hours daily. A developing country like Bangladesh cannot afford the economic and environmental loss resulted from this severe traffic obstruction. However, this type of study has been conducted in Dhaka but not in Chittagong city. Traffic management in Chittagong is not well organized as Dhaka so that the problem is becoming more complicated as the number of people in Chittagong is increasing and it is getting the priority after Dhaka. The broad objective of this study is to investigate the effect of traffic congestion on the urban population of Bangladesh. The methodology used for this study was literature survey. In reviewing the literature, both theoretical and empirical studies were taken into consideration. Secondary information was used to conduct this research. Secondary data were collected through content analysis from various published sources including books, online journals, newspapers, magazines, and reports. This analysis clearly falls in to the category of qualitative research as it aims to get a deeper understanding of how urban environmental issues like traffic congestion is occurring, its overall impact on the quality of life of the city dwellers and some potential solution for this challenging problem.