ASSESSMENT OF NOISE POLLUTION AND TRAFFIC CHANNELIZATION ON RING ROAD PESHAWAR CITY [GT ROAD - HAYATABAD]

The Ring road is a very busy road of Peshawar. The ring road serves as a bypass for heavy transport vehicles and facilitates Afghanistan-bound traffic. It also serves as the terminal for the Peshawar- Charsadda Road, Peshawar-Bara Road, Peshawar-Dalazak Road and Jamrud-Warsak Road.The length of ring road [ GT Road-Hayatabad] is 21.2 km. It is a three lane road on each side. The total number of Un channelized u turn are 31. There are four roundabouts in it names are:Jameel Chowk,Hazar Khwani Chowk,Kohat Chowk,Peshtakhara Chowk. Vehicular jam, long queues, long delays, and sometime accidents during peak hours are frequent at thisRoad. For smooth and rapid flow of traffic through this Road, geometric and traffic improvements are of savior importance. To come up with an appropriate solution for the Road, a methodology was devised which includes traffic studies, topographic survey & development of practical alternatives. Traffic studies included a manual classified count, Noise level Measurement and congestion. Noise pollution was observed at this Road due to heavy traffic. The maximum peak value for noise level is 81 dBwhich is above the standard value 65 dB of NEQS and Peak Traffic Volume is 6860 veh/hr. The Peak Traffic Volume is converted to the Passenger Car Unit Volume which is around 10060 PCU/hr. According to Highway Capacity Manual it should be 2000 PCU/Lane/hr. So the results show that ring road traffic is exceeds from its current limitations and two extra lane must be provided to accommodate the current traffic. Topographic survey involves establishment of modified design of U-Turns in AutoCAD. Other traffic engineering solutions like proper bus stops, road signs, and pavement marking can also be implemented to increase the efficiency of the road.