TRIBHUWAN UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING
PULCHOWK CAMPUS

ROAD SAFETY AUDIT REPORT

MAITIGHAR-TINKUNE SECTION
As Part of the Coursework of Transport Safety (MSTRe II /I)

Submitted by:
Swopnil Kalika (073/MSTR/266)
Vivek Mandal (073/MSTR/267)
Yagya Prasad Acharya (073/MSTR/268)
Anukshya Ghimire (073/MSTR/269)
Sushma Pandey (073/MSTR/270)

Submitted to:
Prof. Dr. Padma Bahadur Shahi

August, 2018
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 BACKGROUND .............................................................................................................. 1
1.2 ROAD SAFETY AUDIT ................................................................................................. 1
1.3 SITE DESCRIPTION ...................................................................................................... 2
2. METHODOLOGY AND LIMITATIONS .............................................................................. 4
2.1 IDEAL METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................. 4
2.2 IMPLEMENTED METHODOLOGY ............................................................................. 5
2.3 LIMITATIONS ................................................................................................................ 6
3. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................... 7
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 17

LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND PHOTOGRAPHS

Figure 1 Road Section Studied for Safety Audit ............................................................................ 2
Table 1 Traffic Volume Count by Vehicle Type ............................................................................ 3
Table 2 Modal and Trips Share in the Road Section ...................................................................... 3
Photo 1 Finding #2: Conflicting Maneuvers at Art Council Intersection ....................................... 7
Photo 2 Finding #2: Right Angle collision at the T-intersection .................................................... 7
Photo 3 Finding #3: Tall Trees on the Median Strips ..................................................................... 8
Photo 4 Finding #4: Road Deterioration near Bridge at Bijulibazaar ............................................. 9
Photo 5 Finding #4: Potholes near Babarmahal Zebra Crossing and near Survey Department ..... 9
Photo 6 Finding #5: Damaged Safety Railing of Dhobikhola Bridge .......................................... 10
Photo 7 Finding #6: Faded out Road Markings ............................................................................ 10
Photo 8 Finding #7: No Maintenance of Tactile Tiles and Incorrect Placement of some tiles .... 11
Photo 9 Finding #8: Bad Condition of Footpath and Stockpilling Materials on Footpath ........... 12
Photo 10 Finding #9: Zebra Cross Markings on Only One Side of Median Strip ........................ 12
Photo 11 Finding #10: Raised Manhole Cover at Minbhawan and Tinkune ................................ 13
Photo 12 Finding #11: Unauthorized Parking at Babarmahal and Minbhawan ........................... 13
Photo 13 Finding #12: Drain Inlet without Grating Cover at Tinkune ......................................... 14
Photo 14 Finding #13: Electric Pole on Footpath at Tinkune....................................................... 15
Photo 15 Finding #15: Out of Operation Traffic Signal at Tinkune Intersection ......................... 15
Photo 16 Finding #15: Bridges as Traffic Bottlenecks ................................................................. 16
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
“Transport Safety” is an elective course with 4 credit hours offered to the graduate students of
Transportation Engineering in the third semester by Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering.
The coursework is divided into following ten chapters:
• Chapter 1: Introduction to Safety Issues
• Chapter 2: Human-Vehicle-Infrastructure in Road Crashes
• Chapter 3: Road Safety Data and Use
• Chapter 4: Road Safety Audit/Inspection
• Chapter 5: Crash Investigation, Analysis and Treatment
• Chapter 6: Engineering Design of Road Safety Measures
• Chapter 7: Crash Costing and Analysis
• Chapter 8: Post-Crash Response
• Chapter 9: Road Safety Awareness
• Chapter 10: Acts, Guidelines and Action Plans
In reference to Chapter-4, it is a mandatory course requirement that road safety audit of an existing
road section be conducted by a group of students for linking the theoretical knowledge obtained in
the classroom with real-world practical applications. This can also be viewed as an opportunity to
closely observe a familiar road section and critically analyze it from a road safety perspective.
Moreover, such practical exercise encourages the students, some of whom are working as highway
designers, to regard safety consideration as an important component of the design process.

1.2 ROAD SAFETY AUDIT

Road Safety Audit (RSA) is a formal procedure for assessing collision potential and safety
performance in the provision of new roads and schemes for the improvement and maintenance of
existing roads. However, its systematic application can also ensure that a growing awareness about
good road safety principles is achieved throughout in highway planning, designing, construction
and maintenance phases. The essential elements of the definition are that it is:
• A formal process and not an informal check,
• Carried out by persons who are independent of the design and construction,
• Carried out by persons with appropriate expertise, experience and training, and
• Restricted to road safety issues.
Typically, a road safety audit of an existing roadway aims to:
• Minimize the likelihood of crashes;
• Ensure that if a crash occurs, the likelihood of injury is minimum;
• Ensure that safety related design criteria have been met; and
• Enhance consideration for the safety of all categories of road users.

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1.3 SITE DESCRIPTION
The road section under consideration in this report is the Maitighar-Baneshwor-Tinkune road
section. It is one of the busiest road sections of the Kathmandu valley. The road segment is about
3 kilometers in length and surfaced with blacktop. Even though it has been expanded up to 6 lanes,
it includes two bridges of only two lanes. One of the bridges is located over Dhobikhola at
Bijulibazar while the other one is the Bagmati Bridge at Tinkune. These two-lane bridges constrict
the traffic flow along the raod section and cause bottlenecks. Morever, the Baneshwor intersection
along this segment has to serve traffic from another busy road (Old Banshwor-Sankhamul section)
as well. This results in high vehicular as well as pedestrian flow demand at this intersection.

Figure 1 Road Section Studied for Safety Audit

Traffic count by vehicle type in the road section in peak flow durations have been obtained from
secondary sources [6]. It is seen that for Maitighar-Tinkune direction, 77.9 % of the Bike and 77.2
% of the car were found to move straight from Maitighar to Tinkune and rest of the percentage
have been diverted to Old Baneshwor or Sankhamul area. For Tinkune-Maitighar direction, 78.5
% of the Bike and 80.2 % of the car and 93 % of Bus were found to move straight from Tinkune
to Maitighar and rest of the percentage have been diverted to Old Baneshwor or Sankhamul area.
For other vehicle types, significant diversion was not observed.

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 Table 1 Traffic Volume Count by Vehicle Type

Source: Impact of Traffic Bottleneck on Urban Road: A Case Study of Maitighar–Tinkune Road Section
[8]

The modal share and trips share for peak hour traffic of 16:00 to 17:00 can be summarized as
below based on the traffic count and vehicle occupancy survey presented in the original study
which has been cited in Reference [8].
Table 2 Modal and Trips Share in the Road Section

Vehicle Type Bike Car Micro Tempo Std Bus Bus

Modal Share 73.07% 19.54% 1.34% 1.21% 0.31% 4.53%
Trips Share 38.12% 14.12% 7.21% 3.13% 2.78% 34.63%

It can be noted that private modes of transportation like Motorbikes and Cars represent a significant
portion of modal and trips share.
Design reports are not available to pinpoint the exact design speed. However, the design speed is
thought to be 60 kmph. It can be assumed that vehicular speed averages around 40 kmph in normal
conditions while it falls below 10-15 kmph during peak hour congestion.

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2. METHODOLOGY AND LIMITATIONS
2.1 IDEAL METHODOLOGY
For conducting safety audit on existing roadway sections field studies like road inventory,
classified volume counts, speed survey and study of first information reports from police records
are essential. Ideally audits of an authority's existing road network should be done on a regular
basis. It may be several years between successive audits, but a rolling program of audits should be
developed which covers every road in the network. As the road is already built, the
inspection plays an important role. As with a road safety audit of any type of project, the road
should be inspected from the point of view of all the likely road user groups and not just motorists.
The road should be inspected for each user group and for the different types of movement.
Following completion of road, safety audit report for an existing road, the highway authority will
need to make an assessment of the cost effectiveness of the recommended solutions. Some
solutions may be in the nature of maintenance treatment and can be easily implemented. Some
solutions may be expensive. In some cases, lower cost options may be available and they may
provide benefits only marginally less than the expensive option. In some cases, expensive option
may be the only effective solution. It will also usually be necessary to set priorities for action on
the road under review, as not all recommended improvements can be funded immediately. Audit
report should highlight those problems, which are considered so urgent that they require
immediate attention. Issues and problems will vary, depending on the road's environment, the
topography and terrain, when it was built and whether it has previously been audited. Following
should be regarded as essential components of RSA:
Road Inventory: Highway features determine road traffic safety, besides road capacity and
economic traffic operations. Highway features are visible elements of highway and consist of
various components. So, the safe and efficient operation of highway is governed by road geometric
parameters, traffic control devices, lighting system of the stretch, composition of traffic, drainage
condition, junction layout, parking facilities, cross drainage structures and the adjoining land use
of the stretch. Road geometry comprises parameters like road width, shoulder width, footpath,
height of embankment, sight distance, horizontal curvature, vertical curvature, etc. The traffic
control devices comprise signs, markings, delineators, crash barriers, guard rails, etc.
Classified Volume Counts: The magnitude of traffic volume, composition and their variation have
a decisive effect on the accident rate and quality of traffic flow on all categories of roads. The
traffic counts comprise of fast-moving vehicles like cars, jeeps, taxis, LCV, MCV, HCV, 2-
wheelers, 3-wheelers and slow-moving vehicles like bicycles, cycle-rickshaws, etc. The available
traffic data is to be analyzed systematically to determine the temporal and vehicle-wise traffic flow
characteristics and the directional distribution of traffic on the selected stretches. Volume/capacity
ratio for different stretches should be determined based on classified volume counts.
Speed Surveys: Speed is one of the most important characteristics of traffic and its measurement
is necessary for quality evaluation of traffic problems. Speed study is a necessary input for
regulation and control of traffic and for analyzing causes of accidents, identifying any relation

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between speed and accidents. This will be conducted to observe the speed characteristics at
selected points of the stretch to determine the prevailing speeds on the stretch.
First Information Reports from Police Stations: First Information Reports (FIR) should be
collected from the concerned police stations on the identified stretches. After getting the FIR
information, database is to be created for analysis of day-wise, month-wise, year-wise, km-wise
distribution of accidents. This would help in identifying the locations experiencing higher accident
frequency.

2.2 IMPLEMENTED METHODOLOGY

The study for road safety audit presented in this report can be divided into following two phases:
(a) Desk Study:
Desk study phase was utilized for collecting various source of secondary information. Satellite
imagery was obtained from Google Earth™ and the length of road segment was found out
from the image. Road Safety Manuals of Nepal and India alongside other relevant publications
were studied prior to the site visit. Since, it was not possible to obtain accident data and reports
with Collison diagrams from the Traffic Police on short notice, CCTV footages and video
recordings of road crashes were studied to understand accident patterns. Traffic count was
obtained from a prior study conducted by IOE alumni and faculty in 2017.
(b) Field Study:
Road inventory from a safety perspective was carried out in the field study phase. Details on
road cross-section, geometrical elements, pavement condition, conflict points at intersections,
pedestrian facilities, roadway markings, street lightings, traffic bottlenecks etc. among other
components of roadway environmental system were observed. Land use pattern along the
roadway corridor was also noted. The study team comprising of 5 student team members
conducted the field study on 7th of August, 2018 at peak traffic durations.
The following team members were involved in road inventory and field observations of
Maitighar-Baneshwor section:
• Swopnil Kalika
• Yagya Prasad Acharya
Similarly, following team members were assigned the field study of Baneshwor-Tinkune
section:
• Anukshya Ghimire
• Sushma Pandey
• Vivek Mandal

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2.3 LIMITATIONS
Road Safety Audit (RSA) should typically be conducted by a team of experienced experts by
covering all the safety issues in a formal step-wise manner after due preparations. However, the
study presented in this report was conducted by a team of graduate-level students, all of whom
were involved in such a study for the first time. Also, financial, administrative and time limitations
restricted the team from obtaining all the required information during both the desk and field study
phase.
• Design reports of the existing road section could not be obtained so as to check
incorporation of safer road perspectives in the design and construction compliance with
safety-related design provisions.
• Administrative coordination with Traffic Police and Road Authorities could not be
established for smooth operation and logistical support.
• Accident data and reports could not be obtained from the Traffic Police.
• Road geometry could not be measured to a higher precision and eye judgement had to be
relied upon most of the times.
• Recent secondary data had to be relied upon for traffic count.
• Formal speed surveys could not be conducted and observation-based assumptions had to
be made.
• A thorough inventory could not be conducted due to time restrictions and coverage of all
hazardous features cannot be guaranteed. However, utmost effort has been made to include
safety threats to all the road user groups.
Hence, on account of the above and other limitations of this study, this document should only be
viewed as an academic exercise in conducting road safety audit and not as a comprehensive
analysis of road safety issues in the considered section.

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3. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Finding #1
Location: Along the whole road section
Description: Speed limit sign is not provided at any point along the road corridor. In the absence
of speed limits, police enforcement against high speed is difficult. Moreover, lack of speed
restriction poses higher risk to pedestrians at zebra crossings.
Recommendation: Speed limit should be set up for the roadway after careful review of road
geometry, traffic demand, abutting land use patterns and pedestrian volume. Police authorities
should also be consulted for deciding the speed limit.

Finding #2
Location: In front of Nepal Art Council (approx. 400 meters from Maitighar intersection)

Photo 1 Finding #2: Conflicting Maneuvers at Art Council Intersection

Photo 2 Finding #2: Right Angle collision at the T-intersection

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Description: Conflciting maeuvers are allowed without any traffic control devices at this T-
intersection with minor road. Side to head-on crash of through vehicle on the road with vehicles
approaching from the minor road can be anticipated.
Recommendation: As a short-term measure, traffic control devices like Yield sign should be placed
near the intersection, visible to the vehicle approaching from the minor road. For medium to long-
term remedy, right-turn of vehicles from minor road could be restricted and vehicles requiring to
do so could be made to turn around from the Maitighar intersection. Since, the traffic volume from
the minor road is relatively lower, it is unlikely that this would pose additional burden on the busy
intersection.

Finding #3
Location: Along major portions of the road

Photo 3 Finding #3: Tall Trees on the Median Strips

Description: Tall trees such as Champ, Raj Sallo and Pipal have been planted on median strips
along the stretch. Moreover, the trees and plants are left uncared for. This adversely impacts traffic
visibility and increases the risk of vehicles hitting the pedestrians at zebra-crossings as the effect
of pedestrians appearing at once from behind the trees at the traffic islands. This does not allow
the drivers with necessary reaction time to stop the vehicles to allow safe pedestrian flow.
Recommendation: Tall trees should be removed from the traffic islands and only small and
ornamental plants should be placed. Moreover, routine trimming of the plants should be done.

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Finding #4
Location: Near Dhobikhola Bridge at Bijulibazaar; Near Babarmahal pedestrian crossing; Near
Survey Department at Minbhawan

Photo 4 Finding #4: Road Deterioration near Bridge at Bijulibazaar

Photo 5 Finding #4: Potholes near Babarmahal Zebra Crossing and near Minbhawan Survey Department

Description: Existing road surface is not in good condition for safe plying of vehicles. The rutted
surface with potholes could distract the driver from performing necessary maneuvers at such traffic
conflicting location.
Recommendation: The road surface should be repaired as soon as possible and routine
maintenance should be conducted at damage-prone locations.

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Finding #5
Location: Dhobikhola Bridge at Bijulibazaar

Photo 6 Finding #5: Damaged Safety Railing of Dhobikhola Bridge

Description: Existing bridge over Dhobikhola river at Bijulibazaar has damaged railings, posing
an urgent threat to the pedestrians during night time and to physically-disabled road users.
Recommendation: The damaged railings should be repaired at the earliest possible. Retro-
reflective barricades should be placed around the damaged railing to safeguard the pedestrians if
immediate repair/construction is not possible.

Finding #6
Location: At various locations along the road section

Photo 7 Finding #6: Faded out Road Markings

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Description: It was observed that Centre-line and Edge road markings have faded out at various
locations along the road section. Some of the zebra crossing markings are also in similar condition.
Recommendation: Faded out markings should be repainted with thermoplastic paint as per Traffic
Signs Manual, Volume I and II published by Department of Roads.

Finding #7
Location: Footpath at Babarmahal

Photo 8 Finding #7: No Maintenance of Tactile Tiles and Incorrect Placement of some tiles

Description: Tactile tiles are placed along the footpath for guiding visually impaired pedestrians.
However, the textures are barely distinguishable due to mud deposit. Also, some tiles are found to
be placed in incorrect orientation that would misguide the visually impaired users.
Recommendation: The incorrect orientation of some of the tiles should be rectified as soon as
possible and they should be cleaned routinely.

Finding #8
Location: At various footpath locations along the road
Description: The pedestrian facilities are not at all considerate of the needs of the physically
disabled. Raised curbs are continued through the locations of zebra-crossings. Footpath have
sudden drops without any provision of ramps. At some locations, the interlocking tiles are removed
and stockpiled in the footpath.

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 Photo 9 Finding #8: Bad Condition of Footpath and Stockpilling Materials on Footpath

Recommendation: “Safety for all” should be applied when considering road safety
implementation. Hence, the pedestrian facilities should be made disabled-friendly through major
investment along the road section. Also, enforcement against stockpiling of materials in the
footpath or roadway should be made effective.

Finding #9
Location: Pedestrian Crossings at Babarmahal, Minbhawan, and Tinkune
Description: It has been observed that 3 pedestrian crossings in the road section have Zebra
crossing markings on only one of the two sides of the median strip. This poses huge safety risk to
the pedestrians and is representative of the lack of routine inspection and maintenance.

Photo 10 Finding #9: Zebra Cross Markings on Only One Side of Median Strip

Recommendation: Zebra crossings should be visibly marked on both sides of the median strip as
per the standard guidelines in Traffic Signs Manual.

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Finding #10
Location: Footpath at Minbhawan and Roadway at Tinkune

Photo 11 Finding #10: Raised Manhole Cover at Minbhawan and Tinkune

Description: Raised manhole cover in the roadway at Tinkune can result in derailing of speeding
two-wheelers and may cause discomfort to vehicle passengers. Raised cover in the footpath at
Minbhawan may pose the risk of pedestrians tripping over it.
Recommendation: The raised manhole covers should be rectified and should be placed in level
with the roadway/footpath.

Finding #11
Location: Footpath of Babarmahal and Road-side of Minbhawan

Photo 12 Finding #11: Unauthorized Parking at Babarmahal and Minbhawan

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Description: Unauthorized parking on footpath and roadway restricting the pedestrian and
vehicular flow have been observed. Congestion resulting from flow restrictions and visibility
obstruction due to parked vehicles can manifest as safety threats.
Recommendation: Appropriate law enforcement methods should be used to discourage drivers
from parking in the road. Adequate parking facilities should be identified and provided near high
frequency demand zones like shopping complexes, restaurants, medical centers and public offices.

Finding #12
Location: Drain inlet at Tinkune
Description: Lack of maintenance of drain structures pose safety risk to the road users.

Photo 13 Finding #12: Drain Inlet without Grating Cover at Tinkune

Recommendation: Grating cover should be installed over the drain inlet structure.

Finding #13
Location: Footpath at Tinkune
Description: Electric pole has been found to be erected in the middle of footpath. This is a major
safety issue for physically-disabled/visually-impaired road users.
Recommendation: The electric pole should be relocated through coordination with responsible
department/authority.

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 Photo 14 Finding #13: Electric Pole on Footpath at Tinkune

Finding #14
Location: Tinkune intersection
Description: Traffic signal installed at this busy intersection is defunct. Police controlled traffic
management in the absence of traffic signals may not be able to effectively safeguard the traffic
against safety risks. This is more evident during non-peaking conditions (dawn and dusk) when
vehicles have higher speed, more complex maneuvers and the traffic police are either fewer or
absent.
Recommendation: Keeping in mind the high vehicular and pedestrian demand and complexity of
this intersection in terms of various number of approaches, traffic signal and pedestrian crossing
signal should be brought back into operation.

Photo 15 Finding #15: Out of Operation Traffic Signal at Tinkune Intersection

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Finding #15
Location: Dhobikhola and Bagmati bridges
Description: The two-lanes bridges over Dhobikhola river at Bijulibazaar and over Bagmati river
at Tinkune act as two bottlenecks in the Maitighar-Tinkune section. While it may be argued that
congestion due to bottlenecks slow down vehicular speed, thereby reducing the crash severity,
research studies indicate otherwise. Firstly, unstable flow conditions induced by congestion has
direct relation with the frequency of Rear-end crashes. Also, increase in Volume-Capacity (v/c)
ratio means a greater number of vehicles in a smaller space resulting in higher number of crashes.
Moreover, crash likelihood increases as speed variability increases and is also positively skewed
by erratic driving behavior during congestion. Reference: [9]
Recommendation: A new Network-Arch type bridge is under construction adjacent to the existing
Dhobikhola bridge section. The new bridge is expected to relieve congestion to some extent and
prevent the associated safety issues. Similar remedial measure should be conceived for Bagmati
bridge at Tinkune. As a short-term measure, warning sign indicating narrow road width should be
installed at both the approaches of the bridges.

Photo 16 Finding #15: Bridges as Traffic Bottlenecks

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REFERENCES
[1] Road Safety Audit Manual. Road Safety Note 4. Department of Roads. 1997

[2] Nepal Road Safety Action Plan (2013-2020). Ministry of Physical Planning & Transport
Management. 2013
[3] Road Safety Notes. Department of Roads. 1997
[4] Traffic Signs Manual (Volume I & II). Department of Roads. 1997
[5] Identifying and Treating Accident. Department of Roads. 1997
[6] Manual on Road Safety Audit. IRC SP 88. Indian Road Congress. 2010
[7] Road Safety Audit Report of NH-8A. National Highways Authority of India. 2014
[8] Timalsena, Marsani, and Tiwari. Impact of Traffic Bottleneck on Urban Road: A Case
Study of Maitighar–Tinkune Road Section. IOE Graduate Conference. 2017

[9] Chao Wang. The Relationship between Traffic Congestion and Road Accidents.
Loughborough University. 2010

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