Commuters' Perspective of Traffic Congestion in Calabar South LGA, Cross River State, Nigeria

Purpose: Traffic congestion is one of the major problems in urban areas arising from increased influx of people and vehicle ownership. The deficiency in alternatives mode and route of movement such as monorail and cable car often hinder free traffic flow along major intersections. The study aimed at assessing the traffic congestion in Calabar South LGA, Cross River State, Nigeria. The study area is experiencing an upsurge in traffic congestion as a major residential area where large proportion of people live and move to work in Calabar Municipality. Methodology: Field survey using questionnaire, traffic count and oral interview was adopted to elicit information from the respondents in four sampled locations that constituted 10% of the major interconnections in Calabar south. The questionnaire elicited information on the perspectives of people on factors responsible for traffic congestion, numbers of trips per day, purpose for the trips, average time spent on traffic among others. Moreover, traffic volume count was carried out manually twelfth hour weekly expressed as passenger car unit per hour (PCU/h). Findings: The result obtained indicated that narrow road was identified as one of the major causes of traffic congestion as indicated by 33.5% of the respondents followed by increased population (29.5%). Moreover people make at least 3 trips per day indicated by 57.5% of respondents and which is mainly to work and business (38.5%) followed by School run (26.05%). Large proportion of the respondents (58.0%) spend at least 21-30 minutes on traffic especial at the intersections at peak period. Recommendation: Delay constitute the highest effect on road users. Traffic volume ranges from 1045 to 2608 vehicles per hour. Thus, traffic congestion is a serious problem in Calabar South, hence it is recommended that Government to increase the number of access roads by constructing other in access roads to distribute traffic.