In many developing countries like Tanzania, one of the major management problems is the lack of decision-making tools for preparing road maintenance programs. This deficiency results in poor resource allocation and poor utilization of existing assets. This paper summarizes the results of a pilot study on implementing sustainable highway management tools in Tanzania. It was recognized at the beginning of the study that data acquisition is one of the single most expensive items in the implementation of a pavement management system. Consequently a sustainable data acquisition scheme, appropriate to developing countries, was designed and tested. The research showed that using these methods together with appropriate management tools results in better management information. It is envisaged that the methods developed will help Tanzania to determine appropriate resource requirements as well as cost-effective pavement maintenance and rehabilitation programs.
One of major problems facing motorists in Dar es Salaam city today is congestion. Bus bays have a significant influence on the capacity of a roadway because they interfere with passing vehicles primarily when buses maneuver to pull into and out of bus bays. Bus bay stops will also interfere with vehicles movement if bus demand exceeds the bus bay capacity resulting in some buses waiting in the travel lane until the buses occupying the bay exit the bay. This paper presents the results of a study which was carried out to evaluate the bus bay performance and its influence on the capacity of the roadway network in the city of Dar es Salaam. The case study area covered 11 bus stops along Morogoro road from Ubungo to Magomeni Mapipa. Capacity of bus bays was studied using procedure outlined in the Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual of 2003. This enabled the researcher to determine parameters such as dwell times and clearance times which are major determinants of bus stop capacity. The results indicate that only 18% of the bus bay stops studied did not have adequate capacity to cater for the available demand. 9% did not have adequate capacity during peak hours but the capacity was adequate during off-peak hours. The remaining 73% of bus bay stops possess adequate capacity all the time. Although most bus bay stops studied possess adequate capacity, severe congestion was observed at these locations. This is due to erratic behavior of bus drivers who do not utilize the provided space for them to drop off and pick up passengers. Clearly, this is an area that requires more strict enforcement in order to ease the congestion problem in the city by operating the existing capacity more efficiently.
The assessment of travel time reliability enables precise prediction of travel times, better activity scheduling and decisions for all users of the road network. Furthermore, it helps to monitor traffic flow as a crucial strategy for reducing traffic congestion and ensuring high-quality service in urban roads. Travel time reliability is a useful reference tool for evaluating transport service quality, operating costs and system efficiency. However, many analyses of travel time reliability do not provide true travel variation under heterogeneous traffic flow conditions where traffic flow is a mixture of motorized and non-motorized transport. This study analysed travel time reliability under heterogeneous traffic conditions. The travel reliabilities focused on passenger waiting time at bus stops, in-vehicle travel time, and delay time at intersections which were analysed using buffer time, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, and planning time. The data used were obtained from five main bus routes in Dar es Salaam. The results indicate low service reliability in the outbound directions compared to inbound directions. They also intend to raise awareness of policy-makers about the situation and to make them shift from expanding road networks towards optimising road operations.
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