Novel Approach to Define Road Widths in Residential Areas

Mobility is one of the most inherent characteristics of human living. But with increasing population and ever increasing need to commute, the proportion of vehicles plying on roads is repeatedly challenging the capacity of the roads to sustain efficient traffic flow. The paper discusses a novel approach to define road widths to sustain the traffic speeds, with an example of residential areas in Jaipur city of India. The study involves a survey based methodology to assess the existing condition of roads in case study area, highlighting the issues responsible for a reduced carrying capacity, namely extension of ramps outside the plot line reducing carriage widths, car-ownership beyond the parking provisions in the plot, etc. Based on this, some recommendations based on the minimum road widths supporting residential areas and policy based provisions are suggested which are expected to reduce the existing traffic woes.