Evaluation of Traffic Flow Characteristics of Bus Stops Along Major Arterials in Abuja

Highway plays a strategic and important role in economic development. Every year, there is an increase in the number of vehicles using the same transport facilities and because of this, the traffic load becomes higher leading to increase in basic cost of transportation as the highway is the most available means of transportation for everyday commuters to move to various destinations in Abuja. Bus stops are an essential part of the road infrastructure and are essential for managing traffic and congestion. The main purpose of this research was to evaluate the effects of bus stops and its characteristics on traffic flow (traffic monitoring), analysis was done using Geographical Information System tool to locate the legal and illegal points which were used as bus stop location. The research was designed to investigate traffic flow characteristics in the areas of bus stops along the major roads in Abuja. It was observed that a high number of bus stop locations are illegal bus stops; from the GIS analysis, it was observed that 4 of the 9 bus stop locations on Kubwa Expressway are illegal stop location and 16 of the 22 stop points on Airport Road are illegal locations of bus stop. Field data was then collected using two Sierzega traffic counters on two sections (point A- Before bus stop, point B – At bus stop) along Kubwa expressway. The results from the traffic monitoring show that the average speeds recorded before the bus stop are significantly higher compared to that of the bus stop which has led to the conclusion that bus stops generally have significant effect on traffic flow. This electronic document is a "live" template and already defines the components of your paper [title, text, heads, etc.] in its style sheet.