Transportation in an Urban Area - Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Transportation in an urban area Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx @2009 Transportation in an urban area Introduction Leyland is a town located 16 kilometers south of Preston town. This urban center has many accretion and concentration of economic activities and thus it has turned out to have composite spatial arrangements that are supported by s transport systems. In this urban centre, the most significant transport problems are present because the urban transport system cannot satisfy many needs of urban mobility. Leyland’s productivity largely depends on the efficiency of its transport system to convey labor, clients and freight various origins and destinations. The most apparent transport terminals in Leyland include ports, bus stations, railway stations and airports as well and these have obviously contributed a definite collection of problems (Jerome 2007). The most distinguished transport difficulties in Leyland are illustrated below. Leyland has traffic congestion and parking problems. It is normal to see traffic congestion especially in the roads. This difficulty has occurred because of motorization and the diffusion of the automobile which has seen the rise of requirement for transport infrastructure within the city. On the other hand, the supply of infrastructures within the town has repeatedly not managed to sustain the growth of mobility. Given that vehicles spend a lot of time parked, motorization has augmented the need to have parking space which had led to space consumption difficulties more so within Leyland’s central areas. The spatial imprint of packed vehicles within the Leyland is noteworthy (Jerome 2007). Public transport insufficiency in Leyland is also present. The town has so many public transport systems or some components of them that have been either overused or underused. This is because it we noted that over the peak hours, there is always crowdedness within the town and this develops discomfort for those using the public transport system as the system tries to deal with a short-term rush of transport demand. Low rider ship has resulted into several transport services within the town to be not sustainable financially. Even if Leyland public transport system normally gets important subsidies and cross financing, not all public transport structures have been able to generate enough revenue to cover the operating and capital expenses (Jerome 2007). Another transport difficulty noted in Leyland that there is presence of several difficulties for the pedestrians. In most cases, these difficulties are as a result of concentrated traffic, where the movement of both pedestrians and vehicles as well gets impaired. Some of these difficulties also result from the obvious pedestrian’s lack of concern for the physical design of transport facilities within the town (Transportation Research Board 2002). Still, there is a big loss of public space and this is because at Leyland, most of the roads are owned publicly and hence anyone has freedom of gaining access. This can be due the fact that there has been augmented traffic which has resulted negative impacts on public activities which one time horded the streets like markets, games, parades and the public interactions. In several instances, these transport activities within Leyland have moved to the shopping whereas in other instances they have been discarded altogether. The flow of traffic affects the life and interactions of the people living within Leyland and regarding how they use the street space. Increased traffic within the town has impended some social interactions and street activities as well and thus end up walking and cycling less especially when the traffic is high within the city (Hunt 2003). The transport system within Leyland has culminated into several environmental impacts and energy consumption as well. Pollution which includes the noise pollution resulting from circulation has turned out to be a grave obstacle to the quality of life and also the health of the Leyland population. Additionally, the transport within the urban centre consumes a lot of energy and this has seen a dramatic increase in energy utilization and hence reliance on petroleum. The sudden rise in the number of vehicles at Leyland has led to a notable rise in the emission load of a variety of pollutants. Vehicles in Leyland are chief source of pollutants since the daily pollution load has risen from 1,350 in 2002 to 3,000 in 2009. The share of the transport area at Leyland has risen from 65% to 69% over the same duration (Tye 2006). Presently, in Leyland, air pollution is widespread where vehicles are the key source of the pollution due to their emissions. Still, the vehicles cause noise pollution from their hooting and engine sounds within the urban area. Vehicular emissions include emitting smelly gases which pollute air and thus are of serious concern because the emission from the vehicles are ground level sources and result into greatest impact on the Leyland population (Tye 2006). Another transport difficulty that was noted in Leyland is that there were significant concerns regarding accidents and safety. It was noted that as the level of traffic in Leyland continues to grow, so is the number of accidents that occur within the town. The accidents have mainly come by because of augmented and congested transport increase which has also led to rise in the number of accidents. Accidents due to traffic within this urban area lead to recurring transport delays. Still, it was also observed that the more the traffic increases in Leyland the lesser the Leyland population feel safe to make use of the streets within the town (Hunt, 2003). Another issue with Leyland transport was land consumption. The territorial indentation of transportation is considerable, principally for the automobile. Almost 50 percent of the urban area is devoted to transportation, a result of over dependency on some types of urban means of transport. Nonetheless, the land consumption by the transport emphasizes the strategic significance of transportation within the financial and social wellbeing of Leyland. Still, freight distribution was noted to be a difficulty in Leyland. Materialization of the financial system has led into developing quantities of freight movement within Leyland. Since it is common to get freight traffic sharing infrastructure with the flow of passengers, the movement of freight within Leyland has turned to be progressively problematic. Leyland has bulky movements of freight and these movements are mainly typified by delivery truck that move between industrial plants, distribution centers, warehouses and trade movements in addition to from key terminals like rail yards, ports, airports and supply points. This freight traffic within the urban area often leads to delayed traffic, road destruction and even accidents where he heavy trucks cause several accidents within the town (Hunt 2003). Finally, it is normal to witness long traffic jams during the rush hours in Leyland and this is in the morning and evening. During the day, most of the transport within the urban area is idle while in the evening or morning there are a lot of passengers and insufficient means of transport. The jams are as a result of congestion and this signifies insufficient modes of transport. The traffic jams in many instances make people to get late in the morning and when getting home in the morning. Still, there are many accidents that happen during rush hours since drivers rush to contain the situation (Jerome 2007). Recommendations The Leyland’s transport management body should efficiently implement the management of incidents. This includes ensuring that the vehicles that get involved in accidents mechanical faults get removed from the roads as soonest as possible. This is likely to reduce the traffic jams that result from the accidents. Leyland County should impose weighty tax burden and buying permits the all vehicle owners. This is likely to control the total sum and growth rate of the vehicles within the town. This is consequently has led to reduced vehicles on the road and hence reduced pollution within the town, reduced traffic jams, reduced transport congestion and also availability of enough public transport. There should be installed automated transport system in Leyland. This will make transportation more competitive because it is the only secure and proficient manner to run a transport system by using several small vehicles. Still, an exclusive right of way is necessary if the public transport is to be automated. This will lessen the congestion of common street traffic. Forced to race with automobiles on streets that are crowded, other kinds of crowd transportation are essentially at speed disadvantage. Further, I recommend the whole of Leyland town to ensure that traffic signal synchronization is implemented. This includes tuning of the traffic signals according to the time and direction that the traffic is flows. This is likely to reduce the congestion in the town since the flow of traffic is likely to be smooth and systematic. Moreover, this will obviously lessen the number of accidents and increase transport safety as well. Finally, there should be installation of public transit and pricing of congestion as well. This includes availing other options to driving. This is likely to considerably improve traffic efficiency, remarkably if it flows on its own infrastructure, for instance; subway, light rail and buses on reserved lanes. The pricing of congestion is also likely to offer several measures which will enforce charges on certain sections of transport structure, mostly as a toll. The transports costs can also vary throughout the day to show congestion levels. This will incite the drivers to consider other time periods and other means of transport and consequently reduce congestion. Bibliography Hunt, D., 2003, Leyland: Centuries of Change, Carnegie Publishing, Preston. Jerome, A., 2007, Improving Transit Security. Transportation Security Board, Chicago. Transportation Research Board, 2002, Transportation research record, Issues 587-590, National Academy of Sciences, Michigan. Tye, B., 2006, Essays in transportation economics and policy: a handbook in honor of John R. Meyer, Brookings Institution Press, Los Angeles. Read More