Assessing intra-city road traffic in an indigenous African city, Ibadan, Nigeria

The study examines the intra-city road traffic situation in Ibadan city, Nigeria. The study was carried out in the five metropolitan local government areas of the city. Survey approach through the use of questionnaire was used for data collection. 50 respondents were sampled in each of the neighbourhoods across the three residential areas of the city (low, medium, high), making a total of 150. Descriptive statistics of means, simple percentages and charts were employed in analyzing the data collected. Results show that 41.3 % of the respondents spent daily between 21 to 30 minutes on traffic congestion, 30% between 5 to 20 minutes, 27.4 % above 30 minutes and 1.3% less than 5 minutes. On the spatio-temporal pattern of traffic congestion in the three residential areas of the city, results reveal that traffic congestion occurred throughout the day along some major routes in the high density residential area. The ranking of some major routes in the city by respondents equally showed that routes along the high density residential areas of the city ranked highest followed by those in the medium density. Some of the causes of traffic congestion identified in the study include: high number of vehicles plying the roads, narrow road networks, erection of structures near some major routes in the city and impatience on the part of vehicle drivers. The study suggested resuscitation of the railway to enhance inter-modal link, expansion of existing roads in the city and introduction of efficient intra-city mass transit system to reduce the number of vehicles on the road.