SPOT SPEED SURVEY ON NATIONAL HIGHWAYS OF NEPAL (NH34 AND NH22)

blog client

Client

TRL (The Future of Transport), UK

blog project period

Project Period

September 2022

blog project area

Project Area

Kathmandu and Janakpur, Nepal

practice area

Practice Area

Road and Access Infrastructure; Road Safety

cross cutting

Cross Cutting Issues

Speed Management

INTRODUCTION

TRL is the UK Centre of Excellence for iRAP (the International Road Assessment Programme), which is a global programme working to save lives by investing in  Risk Mapping, Star Rating, Safer Roads Investment Plans, and Policy and Performance Tracking tools.

TRL has developed a Speed Management Assessment Tool (SMAT) powered by iRAP coding data. SMAT takes iRAP Star Rating data to assist stakeholders in managing speed in a robust ‘intelligence-led’ way. The research intends to verify the SMAT efficacy in LMICs and provide methodologies for evaluating and managing speed rates for embedding into countries’ road safety operations.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

 

SWN in association with Traffic & Transport Unlimited Solution Pvt. Ltd (TATUS) carried out the spot speed survey in two National Highways of Nepal (NH34- Janakpur  and NH22- Arniko Highway).  The objective of the survey was to  collect data to determine vehicle speed percentiles, which are useful in making many speed-related decisions

KEY ACTIVITIES AND SERVICE PROVIDED BY SWN and TATUS

In undertaking the assignment, the survey team carried out the following activities

  1. Consultation with TRL in identifying survey locations and 3 sites in each location
  2. Spot speed meansurement of cars and all motor vehicle types in a specific location during free flow hours (6-8 am, 1-3 pm and 8-10 pm) in each site.
  3. Collected spot speed data from more than 11,000 motor vehicle types (6096 were cars) from NH34 and NH22 national highways.
  4. Speed data entry according to the motor vehicle type in Open Data Kit (ODK)
  5. Data analysis including calculation of 85th percentile speed of cars, bikes, and all vehicles and final report preparation.

OUTPUTS

All vehicle types spot survey reports and data to determine vehicle speed percentiles, which are useful in making many speed-related decisions

speed survey kathmandu1 2
speed survey Janakpur 2

Photo Source: Scott Wilson Nepal, 2022