Roads - wide, smooth, flyover, tunnel - on their own, CANNOT solve traffic jam! By Mohamed Kimbugwe

The purpose of roads is to attract traffic, not to repel it! This attraction may be targeted, like in the case of expressways but naturally, roads inspire activity and by extension, attract traffic! This is especially true if you have just a few good roads that everyone wants to use.

Before I proceed, it is important to note that poor roads can contribute to traffic congestion.
 
A road network that's not intelligent, one that is dotted with junctions so close to each other, one with potholes - can contribute to congestion but that is if you are only interested in the smaller picture! From a bigger picture, you could have wide, smooth and intelligently inter-linking roads and you'd still have traffic congestion! And that is simply because roads are designed to attract traffic, not to repel it!
Like the adage goes, "build it, and they will come". You can expand the Northern Bypass every five years and it will still have congestion hotspots! You can build a second Entebbe Expressway and it will still take a person from Bugolobi two hours to maneuver through Ggaba Road to find the Munyonyo opening of the Expressway! And the examples are endless!

So, in addition to good roads, the solution to traffic congestion is, to a large extent, rooted in smart land use planning that deliberately manipulates the interplay between traffic attraction and generation! You would need a level of spatial order that makes it impossible for one to go where they can avoid going. To a lesser extent, traffic congestion is solved by efficient and attractive mass transportation and non-motorised transportation, where it becomes increasingly expensive and unnecessary for one to pursue private means. I call this lesser, only in comparison to land use planning and spatial order, but it is not any less important! #LNOB #Meddiecine


Mohammed Kimbugwe is a strong advocate of the rights and opportunities of People With Disabilities (PWDs) and provides insights into creating smarter cities and towns.