TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN BORONGAN CITY PROPER, EASTERN SAMAR:

A STUDY TO IMPROVE TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

An Undergraduate Thesis

Submitted to the Faculty of Civil Engineering Department

College of Engineering

Eastern Samar State University

Borongan, Eastern Samar

In Partial Fulfilment of the Course Requirement for the Degree of

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

Baclay Jr., Noel L.

Campani, Jessavil O.

Nerio, Andrea Mae A.

Santiago, Geremy S.

2018
 APPROVAL SHEET

The research attached hereto entitled “TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN BORONGAN

CITY PROPER, EASTERN SAMAR: A STUDY TO IMPROVE TRAFFIC

MANAGEMENT” has been prepared and submitted by Noel L. Baclay Jr.,

Jessavil O. Campani, Andrea Mae A. Nerio, and Geremy S. Santiago, in partial

fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Civil

Engineering, in partial fulfilment of the course requirement for the Degree of

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, is hereby recommend for the

acceptance and approval with a rating of _______.

ADVISORY COMMITEE

DR. LEOVIGILDO E. CARDENAS DR. GRACE O. MANLAPAS

Thesis Adviser Panel

Member

ENGR. JENITH L. BANALDIA ENGR. RODITO A.

ACOL

Panel Member Panel

Member

Approved and accepted as partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.

ENGR. JENITH L. BANALDIA

Head, Civil Engineering Department

 DR. LEOVIGILDO E. CARDENAS

Dean, College of Engineering

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors would like to express their whole-hearted thanks and gratitude to

the following people, who contributed a lot for the success of fulfilling this study.

To Dr. Leovigildo E. Cardenas, Dean of College of Engineering and their

thesis adviser, for his support and exemplary supervision given on the

researchers.

To Dr. Grace O. Manlapas, their thesis instructor, for her full assistance and

patience throughout the study.

To Engr. Jenith L. Banaldia, Department Head of Civil Engineering

Department, for her constant guidance and concern shown to the researchers.

To their panel member, Engr. Rodito Acol,

To the faculty of Land Transportation Office, for their warm approach and

hospitality, for sharing their support and assistance throughout the study.

To their families, who shared their support, either morally, financially and

physically, they give their profound gratitude.

To the Great Almighty, the author of knowledge and wisdom, for His

countless love.

The Researcher
 DEDICATION

The researchers would like to dedicate this humble work to their beloved

families and friends for their unconditional love, constant encouragement and

support, and to the Lord Almighty, for the wisdom and blessings given upon them.

The Researchers
 ABSTRACT

Traffic congestion has been one of the major issues that most metropolises

are facing in spite of measures being taken to mitigate and reduce it. In the recent

past, traffic congestion has emerged as one of the main challenge for engineers,

planners and policy makers in urban areas. Modern social and economic

structures, shaped by car-oriented urban development and rapid growth in

vehicle ownership, have established congestion as an inescapable reality of

urban life. The growing impact of congestion is seen in terms of deteriorating

urban air quality besides other adverse effects on quality of urban living. The

main focus of this study is aimed at understanding the recurring urban

congestion, its measurement and mitigation. Literature review on this problem

reveals some interesting insights. One of the important outcome was that there is

no single, broadly accepted definition of traffic congestion. Traffic congestion can

generally be defined as excess of demand for road travel. Many professionals

and organizations have defined congestion in different ways based on variety of

criteria. Identification of traffic congestion threshold is an essential requirement

for defining the congestion and suggesting appropriate mitigation measures. As

mentioned earlier, due to the lack of a unified definition for the measurement of

congestion, several metrics are in use. These include speed, travel time, delay,

volume and level of service. These metrics are evaluated in terms of their

usefulness in identifying congestion to further to chose an appropriate remedial

measure. Subsequently, data collection requirements and technologies for this

metric becomes an important part of this study. Speed has emerged as the

important traffic measurement to identify congestion.

 The traffic congestion at Borongan City Proper in Eastern Samar was chosen

for the study. The choice of this urban road was based the fact that it has a well

pronounced recurrent congestion on certain sections over the past several years.

Extensive data collection was done at several locations on this corridor to

measure all the traffic characteristics. Video data collection method was used to

measure the volume of traffic. Volume data and speed data were also collected.

In order to further refine the congestion measurement, a traffic counting and

survey would be conducted to fully identify the problem and to come up with

possible solutions.

The congestion mitigation strategy was identified as traffic management. This

alternative is evaluated on the basis of the performance measures and

congestion index developed. The traffic management option emerges as the

better one in terms of increased travel speeds, reduction in travel times and

delays at congested locations.

Statement of the Problem

This study primarily aims to identify the actual causes behind the traffic

congestion and provided the practical solutions for Borongan City Proper to

improve the traffic management.

Specifically, the study is guided by the following objectives:

1. To determine the causes and effects of traffic congestion in the specified

area.

2. To reduce traffic congestion in Borongan City Proper.

3. To minimize the intensity and duration of exposure to vehicular pollution,

suffered by the commuters at traffic.

4. To find possible solutions to traffic congestion within the vicinity.

5. To control road accidents (between vehicle-to-vehicle and Vehicle-to-

Pedestrian) at urban centers.

Significance of the Study

The study will be beneficial to the following:

To the Commuters - This will enable them to have an accessible and safe

transportation in going to their destination.

To Drivers - This will help them provide fast and better earnings on their

livelihood.

To the Traffic Enforcers - This will provide them a solution to easily enforce their

regulations.

To the Environment – The study will help reduce the air pollution in conserving

the nature.

To the Field of Engineering – The study will serve as a medium in road

construction.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

The traffic congestion observed is particularly in the areas of Circumferential

Road – Real Intersection, Real - Cinco Street Intersection, and Real – Abenis -

Cinco Street Intersection in Borongan City Proper. The data gathered is during

the peak hour of the day between seven (7) to nine (9) in the morning and four (4)

to six (6) in the afternoon. The traffic count conducted is a 2-hour traffic

observation with a 15-minute time interval. The traffic flow parameters concerned

are traffic flow rate, traffic concentration and vehicle speed.

 Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

Borongan City, with a population of 70,000 and still growing according to

Census (2015), is a 5th class city and a capital of the province of Eastern Samar.

With a 632 square km of land, the city has been developing with continuously

rising industries, and increasing number of transports. One of the major problems

Borongan City has facing today is the traffic congestion. Cited in (Traffic on

Roads, Wikipedia, 2012), traffic on roads is define as the movement of vehicles,

pedestrians, transportation of goods for the purpose of trade, and other

conveyances in an area, either singly or together, while using the public way for

purposes of travel. Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs

as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and

increased number of vehicles. Due to traffic congestion, a volume of traffic

generates demand for space greater than the available road capacity. There are

a number of specific circumstances which cause or aggravate congestion. Most

of them reduce the capacity of a road at a given point or over a certain length, or

increase the number of vehicles required for a given volume of people or goods.

(Traffic Congestion in Canelar Intersection in Zamboanga City Proper, Hamsain,

Luspo, et. al, 2012)

Traffic congestion can have a number of effects on drivers, the environment,

health and the economy. Pollution, as one of the most harmful effects of traffic

congestion is its impact on the environment. Despite the growing number of

hybrid vehicles on the road, cars stopped in traffic still produce a large volume of

harmful carbon emissions. Besides contributing to global warming, these

emissions can cause more short-term and localized problems, such as smog and
increased respiratory problems in a community due to poor air quality. Economic

impact, another effect of traffic congestion where drivers who encounter

unexpected traffic may be late for work or other appointments, causing a loss in

productivity for businesses and in the drivers' personal lives. Traffic delays may

also slow down the shipping of cargo if delivery trucks can't remain on schedule

due to a congested route. (Traffic Congestion in Canelar Intersection in

Zamboanga City Proper, Hamsain, Luspo, et. al, 2012)

Chapter II
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter consists of the review of related literature and related studies

providing concepts and ideas of authorities that will support the proposed study.

Related Literature

Traffic Congestion is a condition on transport networks that occurs as use

increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and

increased vehicular queuing. When traffic demand is great enough that the

interaction between vehicles slows the speed of the traffic stream, this results in

some congestion. While congestion is a possibility for any mode of transportation,

this article will focus on automobile congestion on public roads.

As demand approaches the capacity of a road (or of the intersections along

the road), extreme traffic congestion sets in. When vehicles are fully stopped for

periods of time, this is colloquially known as a traffic jam or traffic snarl-up. Traffic

congestion can lead to drivers becoming frustrated and engaging in road rage.

Mathematically, congestion is usually looked at as the number of vehicles that

pass through a point in a window of time, or a flow. Congestion flow lends itself to

principles of fluid dynamics.

Road Congestion Impacts (Dr Susan Grant-Muller and Mr. James Laird, ITS,

University of Leeds) posts that road congestion is seen as having increasing

impacts on travelers, the environment and economy as a whole, but there is little

evidence on what the full costs of congestion are. This research has involved an

international literature review on the costs of road traffic congestion. Firstly,

congestion in Scotland was summarized based upon analysis of the Scottish

Household Survey data. Congestion is widely understood but rarely defined, so a

summary was made of different definitions of congestion and how it has been

measured. The main focus was to report on the different methods used to

measure the costs of congestion.

Traffic Data Collections are basic requirements for planning of road

development and management schemes. Traffic Data forms an integral part in

the science of descriptive national economics and such knowledge is essential in

drawing up a rational transport policy for movement of passengers and goods by

both government and the private sectors.

This guideline considers the fact that traffic flow data is important in planning

of a particular section of the road network and for its subsequent maintenance.

Traffic flow pattern appears to be random in distribution, as it reflects people’s

motivation in terms of different composition of vehicles on different types of roads

under varying environmental conditions. It follows then that data being collected

is a methodological statistics, because traffic flow pattern follows a random

distribution. Despite such complexities, it does follow fairly and clearly defined

patterns that are possible to classify and analyze. Thus, traffic data collection and

analysis follows varying trends and plays an important role in the evaluation and

management of road network schemes.

While taking cognizance of the above, traffic flow data is needed for different

purposes by different ministries and/or organizations in the Philippines. The major

areas for which this data is required are: planning prioritization and project

initiation, project design, planning maintenance, national transport statistics, road

safety measures, and traffic control.

Related Studies

Road Accident at Urban Center, the loss of life is so severe that a person

going out for work is doubtful of returning. The traffic jam is frequently referred as

hell in daily newspaper terms. As a result of jam commuters are exposure to a

large vehicular exhaust causing ailments and there are reports that people dye

two days early for each day of exposure to vehicular pollution.

According to Guardian, in its report on Road Safety Fund, “Traffic accidents

are ‘biggest killer of young people worldwide’, “Roads are now the biggest killer of

young people over the age of 10, with road traffic deaths contributing a global

health epidemic that has reached crisis proportions,” according to Safe and

Sustainable Roads report, launched by Campaign for Global Road Safety. The

report blames the high numbers of fatalities on transport policies that put

vehicles, highways and speed before people and road safety. The vast majority

of those who die are in developing countries, with 20 countries accounting for

70% of global road deaths.”

Average Cost Pricing (Shakun D. Mago, University of Richmond, Laura

Razzolini, Virginia Commonwealth University, January, 2010) states that a model

of road congestion considers average cost pricing. Travel cost on the road is

increasing in the number of commuters. We examine how changes to road

capacity, number of commuters, and metro pricing scheme influence the

commuters’ route-choice behavior.

According to the Downs-Thomson paradox, improved road capacity increases

travel times along both routes because it attracts more users to the road. Change

in route design resulting coordination problem is amplified even further when the

number of commuters is large. We find that, similar to other binary choice

experiments with congestion effects, the aggregate traffic flows are close to the

equilibrium levels, but systematic individual differences persist over time.

 Chapter III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter consists of methods, parameters and procedures which help

conduct the observation to the proposed study.

Traffic Flow Parameters

The following are traffic flow parameters used to gather data:

Flow Rate (q)

Flow rate is the number of vehicles counted divided by the elapsed time.

q = N/T

where q is the value of flow rate in vehicle per hour or vehicle per minute; N is the

number of vehicles and T is the elapsed time.

Traffic Concentration

Traffic concentration or traffic density is the flow rate along a distance or

over time. The first is a measure of concentration over space and the second is a

measure of concentration over time.

k = q/u

where k is the traffic concentration, q is the flow rate and u is the length of

concentration.

Vehicle Speed

The vehicle speed is the measure of the length of concentration over time.

s = d/T
where s is the amount of vehicle’s speed in meter per hour, d is the length of

concentration and T is the elapsed time within a particular length.

Traffic Control

Traffic Control, procedures, devices, and communication systems that

help vehicles to safely share the same roads. Traffic control establishes a set of

rules and instructions that drivers, rely on to avoid collisions. Safe travel for

pedestrians is an additional goal in highway traffic control. Traffic control systems

include signs, lights and other devices that communicate specific directions,

warnings, or requirements. Traffic control on the highways is an important aspect

of daily life.

Traffic control systems include laws and procedures, electronic and

physical devices such as markers, signs and signals, and people such as vehicle

operators and traffic controllers. The system varies depending on its location and

the type of transportation it controls. For example, cities have complex traffic

control systems compared to small towns.

Highway Traffic Control

Motorists depend on traffic control devices to avoid collisions and travel

safely to their destinations. Traffic control devices for highway travel include

signs, signal lights, pavement markings, and a variety of devices placed on, over,

near, or even under, the roadway.

Traffic Signs

Traffic signs are the most extensively used form of traffic control. They

provide information about speed limits and road conditions. They direct traffic
along certain routes and to specific destinations. By using signs, traffic control

planners tell drivers what to do, what to watch for, and where to drive.

Pavement Markings

Pavement markings separate opposing streams of traffic and direct

vehicles into proper positions on the roadway. For example, pavement markings

delineate turn lanes at intersections and establish no-passing zones. White and

yellow paint is customarily used for pavement markings. Reflective devices are

more visible at night and are used in some locations to mark lanes and other

significant places on the road.

Traffic Signals

The signal light is probably the most easily recognized traffic control

device. At a busy intersection in a large city, a traffic signal may control the

movements of more than 100,000 vehicles per day. More than 60 percent of all

miles driven each year are on roadways controlled by traffic signals.

Priority Control

In one of the oldest methods of traffic control, one form of transportation is

given priority by restricting or banning other forms of transportation. Bus lanes

and high-occupancy vehicle lanes exist in many urban areas. Only specified

types of vehicles primarily those carrying several occupants can use these lanes.

By giving priority to high-occupancy vehicles, transportation planners encourage

carpooling and reduce congestion.

Restraints

As an alternative to banning traffic, traffic control planners use devices to

discourage heavy use of a route. Islands built in the centres of intersections force
drivers to proceed slowly. Speed bumps discourage high-speed commuting

through residential neighbourhoods. Concrete median strips prevent vehicles

from making turns except at intersections.

Questionnaire Survey

The goal of the questionnaire is to analyse and draw an overview of the

current situation of traffic in Borongan City Proper in Eastern Samar. A survey

provides a fast and efficient means of gathering information with regards to the

respondents’ perception about the research problem.

The questionnaire comprises close-ended questions and was constructed

using the Likert Scale. The Likert Scale is easy to construct and could be easily

understood by the respondents. For the purpose of statistical analysis, numbers

were assign to each anchor, the anchors used are: Strongly Agree (5), Agree (4),

Neutral (3), Disagree (2), Strongly Disagree (1). Detailed instructions on how to

fill up the questionnaires were given at the beginning. The following are the

statistical techniques employed to analyse data collected in the survey:

Slovin’s Formula

Slovin’s Formula is used to calculate the sample size (n) given the population

size (N) and a margin of error (e).

N
n=
1 + Ne2

Mean

The mean is the summation of the product of the frequencies and midpoints

divided by the total of frequencies where F is the frequency, and M is the

midpoint.
 ∑FM
m=
F

Percentage

A percentage frequency distribution is a display of data that specifies the

percentage of observations that exist for each data point or grouping of data

points. It is a particularly useful method of expressing the relative frequency of

survey responses and other data.

frequency
%= x100
number of cases in all categories

Rating Scale

A rating scale is a set of categories designed to elicit information about

a quantitative or a qualitative attribute. In the social sciences,
particularly psychology, common examples are the Likert response scale and 1-
10 rating scales in which a person selects the number which is considered to
reflect the perceived quality of a product.

Table 1.0

4.51-5.00 Strongly Agree

3.51-4.50 Agree
2.51-3.50 Neutral
1.51-2.50 Disagree
1.01-1.50 Strongly Disagree
Conceptual Framework

Traffic Congestion in Borongan

City Proper

 To determine the causes and effects of traffic congestion.

 To find possible solutions to traffic congestion within the vicinity.
 To reduce traffic congestion.

Traffic flow parameters

Survey questionnaire

Conclusion and
Recommendations