Loss of Manpower due to Road Traffic Congestion in Sri Lanka: A Study in Kandy City

Abstract

Traffic congestion is widely viewed as a growing problem in many urban areas in Sri Lanka as the overall volume of vehicular traffic continues to grow faster than the overall capacity of the transportation system. Road traffic congestion directly reduces productivity level and demonstrates a loss of resources. Specially, it creates a huge loss of manpower as most people have to spend their productive time on the road. The main purpose of this research is to estimate the total loss of manpower due to road traffic congestion in Kandy city in Sri Lanka. Data collected covering 220 commuters and monitoring records for one month of the main corridors entering to the Kandy city in 2017 are used for the analysis. Results show that on average the loss of manpower due to traffic congestion is 27 % of their working number of hours per month and 97 percent of commuters perceived that their productivity in the workplace are seriously affected by the traffic congestion related issues in the study area. The overall findings of this research will help implement policies to mitigate traffic congestion that is increasingly posing a major impediment to efficient mobility of people and freight, urban environmental protection, and sustainable development.