24-10-2014, 09:17 AM
Abstracts: This is a case study of pedestrian movement at hospital chowk in Rajkot. Pedestrians form the largest single road user group and also are the most vulnerable road users. Pedestrians’ movements are not restricted to lanes or specific routes however they are restricted by the physical boundaries around them such as the presence of walkways or pedestrian ways. Therefore the needs of the pedestrian should be considered in the design of transportation facilities. Pedestrian facilities include sidewalks, paths, crosswalks, zebra crossing, curb cuts and median pedestrian signal, guard rail and transit stops. These facilities should be pedestrian friendly to promote walking and safety of the pedestrians. Hospital chowk intersection is such an intersection, which are facing these problems such as a High Pedestrian Traffic, Heavy Conflict of Pedestrian-Vehicular Traffic, Major Trip generator and attractor areas, the traffic flow is continuous, the pedestrian flow is of mixed type including the very young and old person of either sex and with all types of purpose of trip i.e., education, shopping, office, and recreation. These intersections are well connected to the high road traffic congestion so large passengers are transferring their route at this intersections. Here, pedestrian planning is a primary requisite for these intersections. In the present work pedestrian traffic planning is taken up, to improve the pedestrian facility at these intersections. To check the adequacy of pedestrian facilities, pedestrian surveys i.e. pedestrian volume count, and pedestrian interview survey also traffic survey (traffic volume count) were conducted. Levels of service of the exiting pedestrian facilities are evaluated for the existing condition as per the guidelines of HCM (2000). The problem is identified after analyzing the existing situation with the help of the data the pedestrian survey and observation. Results of this analysis show that the Hospital chowk is heavily congested. So that proper pedestrian facility is necessary to in these intersections. A few policy are given to relive the existing situation, which include the provide proper footpath, remove the unnecessary encroachment, provide pedestrian signal, increases pedestrian green time, and also to provide a foot over bridge.