PERFORMANCE IMPACT OF TRANSPORTATION POLICY SHIFT

Traffic congestion has now become a serious problem particularly in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, because of the rapid socio-economic changes and increase in population. The city is expanding dynamically without any plan and control. Such rapid and uncontrolled development has created an unacceptable level of disparity in the transportation demand and supply scenario, which resulted in traffic congestion and environmental degradation. The study area, Mirpur Road, is one of the significant roads in transportation network of Dhaka city. Like other streets of Dhaka city, Mirpur Road is also congested. Over the decades many policy measures were taken to control and regulate the vehicular traffic movement and land use beside the Mirpur Road. But the policy measures were changed from time to time. In this research; land use survey, volume study, speed study and users' opinion survey have been conducted to understand the present situation of Mirpur Road. Moreover, the different policy measures have also been discussed in brief to realize the transportation system performance.

The authors completed their bachelor degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). Bayes Ahmed completed his M.Sc. in Geospatial Technologies (Erasmus Mundus). Debasish Roy Raja is a lecturer of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology. Saiful Islam is a town planner in Bangladesh.