Performance Analysis of Rivers State University Roundabout Under Heterogeneous Traffic Condition

This study evaluates the capability of the rotary intersection at Rivers State University in order to address the traffic issues by studying the traffic at the intersection. At the intersection, traffic volume was counted manually and analyzed. The results were converted to equivalent Passenger Car Unit per hour (PCU/hr). According to the analysis, the intersection pulls a traffic volume of 4097PCU/hr, with a practical rotary capacity of 2351PCU/hr. These capacities are approximately 36.56% higher and 27.6% lower than the maximum allowable capacity of 3000PCU/hr provided by the Indian Road Congress (IRC), making the intersection insufficient and unable to handle the current traffic conditions which consequently causes traffic issues. For the North, East, South, and West approaches, further examination of the four intersecting legs indicated that they are undersaturated, with degrees of saturation of 0.41, 0.26, 0.42, and 0.44, respectively. This is within the permissible range of the advised traffic demand. Therefore, based on on-the-ground observations, the traffic situation at Rivers State University roundabout was caused by the volume of pedestrian crossings and business activities, the lack of a pedestrian crossing facility, on-street parking, inadequate traffic control by the police, and the behavior of the road users, rather than the flow from the approach legs. The study suggests that the current roundabout be converted to a priority intersection, that a suitable midblock bus stop be designed, that a suitable crossing facility be implemented, and that all on-street parking beeliminated by the introduction of a parking facility surrounding the university.