ENGINEERING PROJECTS

Impact of Traffic Emission on Air Quality in

2007-07-18T02:27:00.000-07:00

222
Impact of Traffic Emission on Air Quality in
A Developing City of Nigeria
P.N. Ndoke and O. D. Jimoh
Department of Civil Engineering, Federal University of Technology
Minna, Nigeria
Abstract
Minna is a developing city that lies between the Sahel and Guinea Savanna
regions of Nigeria, and occupies a land area of 490 ha. Its population has increased
from 70,000 in 1979 to over 300,000 in 2000. This increase has been attributed to a
number of reasons such as nearness to the federal capital city of Nigeria and economic
growth. During the period, the number of motor vehicles in the city increased by
400%. Although an increase in the motor vehicles eases the movement of people and
goods, it could lead to an increase in traffic emission, which would constitute
environmental and health hazards. A micro-scale analysis of the pollutants on a busy
road in the city was studied during the dry season. A piston hand gas pump with
detector tubes was used to sample CO, NO2, SO2, and CO2. Only traces of NO2 and SO2
were detected. The concentration of CO detected was as high as 15 ppm, which is a
little lower than the Federal Environmental Protection Agency limit of 20 ppm, and
was attributed to vehicle emission. In addition, the CO2 concentration was as high as
5000 ppm, which is still below the maximum level stipulated by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency, but was not due to traffic emission alone. Thus the
city is not under the threat of traffic pollution. This finding could serve as base-line
information for urban development vis-à-vis traffic management policy in Nigeria.
Keywords: Motor vehicle, air pollution, traffic management, urban development.
Introduction
Air pollution is defined as the
contamination of air by discharge of harmful
substances, which can cause health problems
including burning eyes and nose, itchy irritated
throat and breathing problems (USEPA 1994).
It was also reported that some chemicals found
in polluted air could cause cancer, birth defects
brain and nerve damage, and long-term injury
to the lungs and breathing passages in certain
circumstances. The concentrations of such
chemicals beyond a limit, and an exposure over
a certain period are extremely dangerous and
can cause sever injury or even death.
Air pollution can be classified into
natural air pollution which includes wind
blown dust, volcanic ash, and gases, smoke and
trace gases from forest fires, and anthropogenic
air pollution which includes products of
combustion such as nitrogen oxides (NOx),
carbon oxides (COx), sulphur dioxide (SO2).
Indeed, motor vehicles produce more air
pollution than any other single human activity
(WRI 1992). Nearly 50% of global CO,
hydrocarbon, and NOx emissions from fossil
fuel combustion come from gasoline- and
diesel-powered engines. In the city centers,
especially on highly congested streets, traffic
can be responsible for as much as 90–95% of
the ambient CO levels, 80–90% of the NOx and
hydrocarbons, and a large portion of the
particulates, posing a significant threat to
human health and natural resources (Savile
1993).
Air pollution problem has been well
documented in Europe and the US with motor
vehicles being the main contributors. In Europe
and the US, Small and Kazimi (1995) reported
that motor vehicles emission account for 32–
98% of national emissions of CO, volatile
223
organic compounds (primarily hydrocarbons)
and NOx. Furthermore, Cline (1991) stated that
transportation accounts for an important
fraction of green house gases (especially CO2)
emission.
USEPA (1993) reported that transportation
sources were responsible for 77% of CO
emissions, 45% of NOx, 36% of volatile
organic compounds, and 22% of particulates in
the US during the year 1993. In the European
Union, pollution control measures have been
initiated over the past 20 years to reduce NO2
levels, but these measures have been offset by
increases in the numbers of vehicles on the
road (CEC 1992). In the UK, for example,
average concentrations of NO2 increased from
1986 to 1991 by 35%, mainly as the result of
increased emissions by motor vehicle traffic
(UK/DOE 1992). In the developing world,
automotive air pollution is mostly a problem in
large cities with high levels of traffic, such as
Mexico City, Bangkok, and Lagos, Nigeria. In
other cities, power plants, factories, and other
stationary sources still constitute the greatest
threat to air quality. However, even in some
smaller urban centers such as Peshawar,
Pakistan, and Katmandu, Nepal, air pollution
from motor vehicles is becoming an increasing
problem (UK/DOE 1992).
The impacts of motor vehicle emissions
extend far beyond the local area. The
transportation sector is the most rapidly
growing source of greenhouse gas emissions--
that is, emissions of chemicals that have the
potential to contribute to global warming
(IPCC 1995). These include CO2, chlorofluorocarbons,
NO, and CO. In 1990, about 22% of
CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use came from
the transportation sector. OECD countries are
responsible for about 70% of greenhouse gas
emissions attributed to transportation. However,
the share of emissions from developing
countries is expected to rise in the future
because of the growing sizes of their motor
vehicle fleets and their use of less efficient
fuel-burning technologies (IPCC 1995).
Cities embody the diversity and energy of
human pursuits. Urbanization brings about
increases in population, which lead to
corresponding increases in motor vehicles,
either for private or for public transportation.
The environmental costs of motor vehicle are
hard to measure and vary according to local
conditions. Health cost estimates from local air
pollution in the Los Angeles region of the US
in 1992 was reported by Small and Kazimi
(1995) to be $0.03 per vehicle-mile. McCubbin
and Delucchi (1997) corroborated this fact, and
stated further that health cost as a result of
truck emission could be as high as ten times
that of cars and small buses. In both studies
most of the health hazards are as a result of the
increased mortality due to the presence of
volatile organic compounds, NOx and SOx in
the inhaled air. The rest of the hazards are due
to minor illness from ozone (O3), formed in the
atmosphere from volatile organic compounds
and NOx.
Policy makers all over the world have
been partially successful in improving air
quality. In the US, the ambient levels of most
pollutants have been reduced steadily since the
1960s (Calvert et al., 1993, Harrington et al,
1995). Small and Kazimi (1995) reported that
Europe has lagged behind the US in emission
controls on motor vehicles. Africa is even
worse off. In Nigeria, the government has
banned the importation of vehicles over eight
years old. Good as this policy may look like,
what remains to be done is how to control
emission from the existing old vehicles plying
the streets and highways of Nigeria. Some of
the policies are aimed at reducing overall
vehicle use, so as to minimize congestion/or
pollution. However, these policies really do
little to reduce the twin effect of congestion
and pollution. According to Hall (1995) the
problem of congestion is specific to location
and time, whereas emissions are specific to
vehicle characteristics and driving behaviour.
The diesel or petrol-fired electricity generator
is also a source of air pollution, and it is
contributing to the choking air in cities like
Abuja and Lagos, which are plagued by daily
smog shrouding the skyline of the central city.
As Sub-Saharan African cities experience
increased urbanization and motorization, air
pollution, particularly from vehicles still using
leaded gasoline, is worsening. By providing
access to business and public facilities, urban
transport plays a critical role in the
development of urban areas and overall
224
economic growth but it also generates a
number of externalities in terms of accidents,
noise, traffic congestion, and air pollution. The
latter is becoming a major environmental and
health concern in sub-Saharan Africa. High rate
of urbanization (4–8% in a number of cities)
expected to be sustained for the next decade,
combined with low-income solutions to daily
commuting, has resulted in the rapid increase
in pollutants emitted by motorized vehicles.
The Study Area
Minna is the capital of Niger State, and it
is 100 km from Abuja the Federal Capital City
of Nigeria. Its climate lies between the Sahel
and Guinea Savanna regions, and has two
distinctive seasons (dry and wet). The dry
season occurs between November and March
while the rainy season is between April and
October, with the peak rainfall in September.
The population of Minna was 60,000 in
1963, when the state was created. The
population had increased to 122,031 in 1991
with a growth rate of 2.8% (Minna Master Plan
1979). There has not been a corresponding
increase in industrial activities in the town.
Major industries in the town include small
agricultural processing industries, plastic
manufacturing industries, confectioneries,
pharmaceutical and surgical companies. On
the other hand, there has been an increase in
the number of vehicles for personal and
commercial use in the town. Thus, traffic
emission is expected to be a major source of air
pollution in the town.
An area of Minna town with the most
traffic congestion (Amogu 2001) was selected
for this investigation. The selected site is
located in the central business district of the
town and it is congested during the morning
hours of 7:30–9:30 a.m., when offices and
commercial centres opened for business and
4:30–7:00 p.m. in the evening when the offices
and business centres are closed. Traffic volume
and activity is high on the two-lane dual
carriageway road.
.
Method of Investigation
The census of registered vehicles was
obtained from the state licensing office. A
questionnaire, which is aimed at determining
the age of vehicles was prepared and
administered on a sampled population (50 for
private cars, 100 for motorcycles, 200 and 50
for commercial cars and buses). The sample
size was based on earlier traffic studies in the
area (Amogu 2001).
Vehicles were randomly chosen and with
the permission of the drivers, the gas sampling
pump and detector tubes were used to detect
the prevalent gases from the exhaust fumes. A
piston hand gas pump (RAE LP-1200 model)
was used to determine the proportion of the
gases as the car engines was started. The
second process of sampling involved open-air
sampling at the median of the highway, as well
as 10 and 20 m away from the highway, which
lies in the built-up area. Sampling was done at
2-min intervals with corresponding traffic
volumes being recorded. In order to identify
the maximum effect of traffic emission in the
city, measurements were taken during the dry
season (November and December), as
Baumbach et al. (1995) had shown that traffic
emission in Lagos is higher during harmattan
season than during the rainy session. Traffic
was counted and at intervals air was pulled into
the pump and the concentration of the pollutant
measured. The samplings were carried out on
working days during traffic congestion periods.
Results and Discussion
Fig. 1 shows the variation in the age of
motorcycles, private and commercial cars as
well as buses, based on the questionnaire and
information from the Federal Road Safety
Corps. The figure shows that the age of over
90% of motorcycles is less than ten years.
However, only 10% of commercial cars and
6% of buses fall within the same age group.
Eighty per cent of buses and commercial cars
are within the age group of 10–20 years. Most
of the exhaust pipes of the vehicles are
horizontal and discharge backward. It was
difficult to obtain the age of some vehicles as
225
the drivers were sceptical about the study. The
older the vehicles, the higher the proportion of
the pollutants emitted, indicating that
commercial cars and buses are main
contributor of traffic emission in Minna. The
proportion of older vehicles in Minna, a
developing city, agrees with other studies like
Faiz et al. (1994) who reported that low income
levels have been an incentive to import older
used vehicles in recent years, to use cheap twowheelers
and cheap fuel, and to postpone
vehicle maintenance. Such conditions result in
an increase in the emissions per km travelled,
slow speeds due to low investment in road
maintenance and traffic management.
Fig. 1. Variation of age of vehicles in Minna
Table 1 shows the statistics of registered
vehicles in the state licensing office. The table
shows that a total of 7,967 private vehicles,
4,557 commercial vehicles and 9,145
motorcycles were registered between 1993 and
2001. The number of vehicles registered before
1995 was 3,002, and motorcycles accounted for
1,677. It could be deduced that 13.4% of the
total motor vehicle population was registered
before 1995. This result does not mean that the
vehicles are less than ten years old because
most of the vehicles are imported into the
country as used vehicles. However, not all the
vehicles registered in the city remain and are
used in the city, many vehicles also migrate
from other cities to Minna.
Table 1. Registered vehicle census
Year Private Public Motor
cycles
Trucks/
buses
1993 387 261 445 14
1994 620 375 880 20
1995 968 644 1113 43
1996 975 472 890 23
1997 1015 556 1025 14
1998 983 418 986 12
1999 1019 542 1313 26
2000 1045 621 1250 28
2001 955 455 1252 33
The pump and detector tubes were able to
measure concentrations of CO and CO2 and
detect traces of SO2 and NOx. Fig. 2 shows the
level of CO measured during the dry season.
The CO emissions are higher at the median
than within the built-up area (that is at 10 or
20m away from highway). The concentration
of CO decreases with increase in the distance
from highway. It also corroborates De Rosa
(2003) assertion that traffic pollutants are
higher in concentration at the roadside or
median. De Rosa (2003) also reported that
young and middle aged men serving as
motorway tollgates attendants in Italy,
subjected to exposure to traffic pollution have
their fertility impaired. The maximum
concentration of CO detected was 15 ppm,
however, this is lower than the 48 ppm
stipulated by the WHO and 20 ppm stipulated
by the Federal Environmental Protection
Agency (FEPA) of Nigeria. The level of CO
measured is still within the safe limit, but
roadside vendors are however, being threatened
by some health hazards. For example, Greiner
(1991) stated that CO is a slow poison that kills
by reducing the oxygen supply in the body.
Fig. 3 shows the variation of CO2 at the
median as well as at 10m and 20 m away from
the highway. There is no distinct pattern in the
variation of CO2 with distance from the
highway. This is due to the fact that CO2 is a
product of combustion and respiration that can
be produced domestically, as well as from
industrial sources and motor vehicle emission.
The maximum concentration of CO2 was 5,000
ppm. This is less than the WHO stipulated
maximum of 20,000 ppm. However, Greiner
0
25
50
75
100
Age of vehicles (X)
Proportion %
Private Car Motorcycle Commercial Car Buses
226
(1991) reported that the presence of CO2
concentration from 2500 to 5000 ppm, could
cause headache, indicating that concentration
of CO2 within the study area is high enough to
cause health hazard. However, the level of
CO2 measured could not be attributed to
vehicle emission alone.
Fig. 2. Concentration of CO in the atmosphere
Fig. 3. Concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere
Although the trends and sources of
transport air pollution may somewhat vary
between cities, the impact on the society are the
same. Such impact includes health problems
mostly for children and the poorest, reduction
in productivity, poorer quality of life, and
degradation of the environment. Thus, the
results of this investigation could be
summarized as follows:
1. Traffic emissions in Minna City include
pollutants like carbon monoxide and
carbon dioxide as well as traces of
sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
2. The concentrations of the gases
measured are still within the limits
stipulated by the WHO and FEPA. This
implies that traffic emission in Minna,
which has a population of about
300,000 people with 3,000 vehicles, is
within the safe limit.
3. The low pollution level may be
attributed to the low industrialization
level of the city, a higher proportion of
non-polluting vehicles and the short
congestion peak periods in the city.
Conclusion
Urban air pollution patterns may vary
from one city to another depending on various
factors, and pollutants need to be identified and
quantified according to their potential sources.
References
Amogu, O. 2001. The relationship between
geometric design features and roundabout
performance in Minna. Unpublished B.Eng.
project, Dept. Civil Eng., Federal University
of Technology, Minna, Nigeria.
Baumbach, G.; Vogt, U.; Hein, K.R.G.;
Oluwole, A.F.; Ogunsola, O.J.; Olaniyi, H. B.;
and Akeredolu, F.A. 1995. Air pollution in a
large tropical city with high traffic density –
results of measurements in Lagos, Nigeria.
Sci. Total Envt. 169: 25-31.
Calvert, J.G.; Heywood, J.B.; Sawyer, R.F.;
and Seinfeld, J.H. 1993. Achieving
acceptable air quality: some reflections on
controlling vehicle emission. Science 261:
37-45.
Cline, W.R. 1991. Scientific basis for the
greenhouse effect. Econ. J. 101: 904-919.
CEC. 1992. The State of the Environment in
the European Community: Overview, Vol. 3.
Commission of the European Communities,
Brussels, Belgium.
De Rosa, M. 2003. Traffic pollution damages
men’s sperm. J. Human Reprod. 18: 1055.
Faiz, A.; Sinha, K.; and Gautam, S. 1994. Air
Pollution Characteristics and Trends.
Discussion Paper, World Bank, Washington,
DC, USA.
0
5
10
15
20
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
sample number
concentration
(ppm)
median 10m away 20m away
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011121314
Sample number
Concentration (ppm)
median 10m away 20m away
227
Greiner, T. 1991. Indoor air quality of CO and
CO2. Iowa State Univ. Extension Publ. No.
AEN-125.
Hall, J.V. 1995. The role of transport control
measures in jointly reducing congestion and
air pollution. J. Transport Econ. Policy 29:
93-103.
Harrington, W.; Walls, M.A.; and McConnel,
V.C. 1995. Shifting Gears: New Directions
for Cars and Clean Air. Discussed Paper 94-
26-REV Resources for the Future, World
Bank, Washington, DC, USA.
IPCC. 1995. IPCC Synthesis Report of World
Meteorological Organization, Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change. UNEP,
Geneva, Switzerland.
McCubbin, D.R.; and Delucchi, M.A. 1996.
The social cost of the health effects of motor
vehicle air pollution report II in the series:
the annualized social cost of motor vehicle
use in the U.S. based on 1990-1991 data,
report UCD-ITS-RR-96-3. Institute of
Transportation Studies, Univ. of California,
Davis, CA, USA.
Minna Master Plan. 1979. The Capital City of
Niger State, Final Report prepared by Max
Lock Group, Nig. Ltd. Town Planning
Division, Ministry of Housing and
Environment, Niger State, Nigeria.
Saville, S. B. 1993. Automotive options and air
quality management in developing
countries. Indust. Envt. 16 (1-2): 20, 32.
Small, K..;A and Kazimi, C. 1995. On the costs
of air pollution from motor vehicles. J.
Transp. Econ. Policy 29: 7-32.
USEPA. 1993. Guide to Environmental Issues,
Doc. No. 520/B-94-01 United States
Environmental Protection Agency,
Washington, DC, USA.
USEPA. 1994. National Air Quality and
Emissions Trends Report, pp. 2, 6, 46, 52.
United States Environmental Protection
Agency, Washington, DC, USA.
UK/DOE. 1992. The UK Environment, pp. 17 -
21. UK Dept of the Environment, London,
UK.
WRI. 1992. World Resources. World
Resources Institute, in collaboration with
the United Nations Environment
Programme and the United Nations
Development Programme. Oxford
University Press, New York, NY, USA.

Lekki now recipe for chaos

2007-07-18T02:25:00.000-07:00

Lekki now recipe for chaos

Craze for waterfronts

VICTORIA Garden City (VGC) developed by Messrs HFP Engineering Nigeria Ltd prides itself as “Paradise by the Lagoon.” The luxurious estate was the first of its kind in Nigeria and the first private sector-developed estate in the Lekki Peninsula area of Lagos.

VGC is the product of the Lagos State Government’s private estate development scheme flagged off in 1992. The government that year, allocated parcels of land to twelve private estate development companies to build housing estates to provide decent shelter for the teeming homeless Lagosians.

Prior to the development of the VGC, the water-logged Lekki axis was shunned by property investors due mainly to the huge financial outlay required to build in such marshy areas. Apart from HFP which took the bull by the horn and built VGC, other allottes of the scheme failed to come off the ground.
Today, however, the story has changed as the craze to live near the waterfronts has led to the springing up of no fewer than 40 residential estates in the Lekki-Ajah neighbourhood.

The teeming population which was not envisaged in the regional master-plan has led to the dearth or overuse of existing infrastructure (good network of roads and water among others). Only the Lagos -Epe Expressway serves the growing neigbourhood and this has led to perennial traffic bottlenecks on that route. Last year, when a prominent Lagos businessman hosted a lavish party in his expansive castle, Lekki commuters had a hellish time as many of them allegedly slept on the road.

Besides the residential estates that adorn the Lekki landscape, a lot of corporate organisations have also begun to relocate their head offices to the area. A popular transport company that plies mainly the eastern parts of the country, is one of such companies. The absence of regular markets to take care of the domestic requirements of most households in the area has forced some of them to do their shopping in either Lagos Island or the mainland.
Mrs. Stella Amadi who lives in the mainland but works in Lekki complained bitterly about the pains she goes through on daily basis. According to her, “I leave my house very early in the morning and still arrive the office late due to the choking traffic hold-up. I also get back to my house around 10 pm almost on a daily basis although I close officially for the day at 6.00p.m”, she lamented.

Recipe for disaster

For Mr. Osita Okoli, a frontline Lagos-based estate surveyor and valuer, ongoing developments in the Lekki axis portend grave dangers for the environment.

“We have a recipe for disaster on our hands already. I live in Lekki and know that I dreaded moving to Lekki from my former residence in Ikoyi for the simple reason of the traffic. Having lived in Lekki for about three years now, I know that it takes sometimes longer to get from Lekki to my office on Lagos Island than it takes somebody coming from Lagos Mainland (Surulere or Yaba) to get to Lagos Island,” he said.

Mr. Okoli who is the Secretary of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) and a past National Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), regretted that the Lagos State Government was sufficiently warned about the dangers of mass movement to the area but it (government) failed to heed the warning.

“Government was sufficiently warned. Experts provided advice and commentaries on the matter.You might want to know that there has been a long standing plan to build a coastal road linking most of the coastlines not just in Nigeria but even with other countries in West Africa”, he said.
He called for the construction of an alternative route to the Lekki Expressway, near the site for the proposed coastal road.

“That will have an immense impact on bringing down the traffic that flows from Lekki and Epe and the places beyond it. The government’s plan to build connecting bridges from Lekki or Langbasa and such other places, to the mainland will be another solution, but that is far-fetched because I understand that such bridges will not be ready until about ten years. Ten years? That place would have assumed unmanageable dimensions.

Another Lagos-based realtor, Mr. Stephen Jagun said he lives in Surulere because he is not prepared to go through the hassles of coming to his office on Lagos Island from the Lekki Peninsula.
“I understand that there are about 45 approved estates on that axis alone. The major problem with that area is the fact that only a single road links it with other parts of Lagos. It is always chaotic driving out of Lekki in the morning hours or returning in the evening. To compound the problem, erosion is gradually eating up the road thereby making the traffic congestion almost unbearable”, he observed.

He disclosed that private estate developers in the axis and the Eti-osa Local Government Area are presently collaborating to build a coastal road that will reduce the flow of traffic on the major road.
A former National Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Mr. Moses Ogunleye, observed that the major problem in the North-East axis (Lekki) is the lack of coordination among the government development agencies charged with the responsibility of ensuring orderly development of the new neighbourhood.
The agencies charged with the provision of physical infrastructure are the New Towns Development Authority (NTDA) and the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC).

Ogunleye who explained that Lekki phases 1 and 2 have layout plans guiding government development efforts in the areas, noted that the numerous private estates there also have planning approvals hence the government allowed them to develop the estates.
“The greatest challenge facing Lekki is the fact that development is going on bit by bit. There is no global (holistic) plan for the north- east axis.”
According to him, under the proposed Regional Plan for the entire area, Lekki axis was zoned into three uses - housing, agriculture and tourism.

“Nobody is doing the coordination. Both the NTDA and LSDPC are working in the Lekki corridor but nobody seems to be coordinating the developments. For instance, plots of land zoned to housing are being used for tourism and nobody is checking this ugly trend.”
Continuing, Mr. Ogunleye who is the Managing Director of Beachland Resources Ltd, declared: “You can change value vis-a-vis the existing development plan but that change must come through thorough design as a result of a study or research finding.”
The former NITP image maker decried the non-construction of the coastal road proposed in the Regional Plan to reduce the flow of traffic in the area.

Said he: “If time is not taken, the whole Lekki area will become a dormitory because people are only interested in building housing estates. There will be chaos in the development pattern of the area and we are already experiencing it. Apart from housing estates, there should be work places and industrial/ commercial areas in Lekki,” he said.
“Every development should evolve based on a master-plan. If somebody says he wants to develop a school, university or hospital in an area, you should not just allocate land to him for that purpose because it is a development. You must check the plan for that area to ensure that such projects are accommodated in the master- plan,” he said.
The settlement expert who noted the influx of high network citizens to the new investors have called on the government to come up with alternative plans to check the suffering of residents of the area who are usually trapped in heavy traffic jams for hours on daily basis.

“Government is making a lot of money from Lekki. The value of land there is appreciating on daily basis. It (Lekki) is a prime area that should be treated by the government with prime urgency,” he said.
Mr. Ogunleye counselled private estate developers to “diffuse development in sectors. Everybody should not just be thinking of building along that single expressway. Development of workplaces like hotels, hospitals and offices should not be concentrated along the road”, he said.

Solution to the problem

On how to solve the problem of congestion in the area, Mr. Okoli who noted that a road is being constructed from Ligali Ayorinde on Victoria Island through Oniru Estate, to Lekki Phase 1 Roundabout, noted that it will only reduce traffic on that road minimally.

“There is an aspect that the government has not even bothered to exploit. It was very effectively used by the government in the past. The water transportation routes. Lagos is immensely blessed with waterways. Ferries can be designed and procured for the movement of the people. You can even have vessels that can move cars across the creeks from Lekki or Victoria Island to Osborne or Ikoyi or Mainland or Apapa or wherever. You will find that a lot of people will subscribe to this. Certainly, most people who want to go to work in Ikoyi or Obalende or Lagos Island will find it faster to cross the creek at that point and then take a bus to continue their journey."

Continuing, the outspoken realtor said, “there is no reason why the government cannot provide an integrated system of transportation. When I talk of integrated, I mean harnessing both the waterways and the road network. You can have a system of buses such as the transit buses networking Victoria Island and Ikoyi and Lagos Island. You can link that up with the waterways so that some people can take ferries and have buses to take others. If you do that, you discover that a lot of people who go to work with their cars everyday will not even bother especially with the high cost of fuel.”
Should government stop further allocation of land to private developers in Lekki? Mr. Okoli said that would be a defeatist way to attack the problem.

“If government stops allocation, people will buy land from the natives and still develop. You cannot stop development. What they should do is to channel and modify developments, provide infrastructure and probably finance people who want to develop. It would be unwise for government to stop allocating land. They should, however, let the allocation go simultaneously with articulated plans to meet the demands of development,” he said.
Aware of the multi-faceted problems facing residents of Lekki Peninsula, the Lagos State Government last month said it will in the next three months, flag off the construction of the coastal road and expansion of the existing Lagos-Epe Expressway.

The Deputy Governor, Mr. Femi Pedro who spoke while commissioning Golden Park Estate at Sango Tedo said the government will also build a fourth mainland bridge in the area.
President of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Chief Charles Adebiyi believes that when these schemes eventually take off, the problems faced by Lekki residents and visitors will be ameliorated.
But his deputy, Chief Dosu Fatokun insists that articulated planning would have saved the neighbourhood the decay it is currently going through by the provision of adequate infrastructure from the onset.

The final hurdle

2007-07-18T02:23:00.000-07:00

The final hurdle
Lagos Mega City Project goes before the National Assembly for approval

By OLUYAYO OLUBI

IMPLEMENTATION of the Lagos Mega-City Project is fast gaining speed. Investigations have revealed that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has forwarded the draft bill for the
establishment of the Lagos Mega-City Development Authority to the National Assembly for
passage into law. National Daily Real Estate reliably gathered that the decision to forward
the draft bill was reached after the FEC had extensively deliberated on the proposed bill as
presented by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo,
SAN. Reliable sources disclosed that the draft, among many other things suggested that the
president should appoint the director-general, while the funding ratio should be 45-40-15,
per cent by the respective governments: Federal, Lagos and Ogun States and planned projects
to be executed on a Public -Private Sector Partnership, PPP. These developments have
encouraged the chief beneficiary of the project, Lagos State Government, to publicly present
the Lagos Mega-City Project to traditional rulers in the state at the Iga Idunganran Palace
of the Oba of Lagos, HRH, Rilwan Akiolu, on February, 27.

By definition, the Lagos Mega-City Region covers an area of 153,540 hectares. It is a
continuously expanding built-up area that gulps the whole of Lagos and parts of Ogun State.
The Lagos portion of the Mega-City Region, by 2000, was estimated to be 130, 700 hectares,
with planned urban land uses accounting for 63,100 hectares, which is 48 per cent of the
total and non-urban land uses accounting for 67, 500, hectares, 52, per cent of the total.
Ogun State portion comprises of at least, four local government areas of Ado-Odo/Ota, Ifo,
Obafemi Owode and Sagamu. These spread through an estimated area of 22, 840 hectares,
comprising 15, 640 hectares for non-urban uses, such as, agriculture, conservation/preservation, forest and water supply reserves, recreation, tourism and
regional parks, while urban uses in Ogun State accounted for only 7, 200 hectares.

The Mega-City Project came about as a result of the chaotic nature of urban development in
Lagos State, which has impacted negatively on Ogun State. This singular factor has become a
source of concern for international investors and first-time visitors. Recent statistics by
the National Planning Commission, NPC, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, revealed that
no less than 60 per cent of total economic activities in the country take place in Lagos State. As a result of this, the Honorary International Advisory Council on Investment in Nigeria, led by Baroness Lynda Chalker, a former British Minister for Overseas Development
counselled the Federal Government to clean up the city as it is discouraging ready foreign
investors. The council had earlier facilitated an International Development Association,
IDA, facility of the World Bank for urban renewal in Lagos State. The body also mediated on
the withholding of Lagos State Local Government Fund by the Federal Government. It is
expected to be represented on the board of the Lagos Mega-City Development Authority.

Experts reasoned that the cleaning up of Lagos State may not really address the issue. The
Lagos Mega-City as already defined came about as a direct impact of the inadequacy of decent
residential accommodation within the Lagos metropolis, and its attendant encroachment on
Ogun State lands. A report of the Professor Akin Mabogunje-led Presidential Committee on the Redevelopment of the Lagos Mega-City Region, made available to National Daily Real Estate, revealed that the Lagos Mega-City is a region in crisis. Its infrastructural facilities,
services and utilities are severely stressed. Its residents are neither safe nor satisfied
and the environment is highly polluted and decaying. The population pressure in the
Mega-City Region has been heightened over the years by inadequate housing provision for the continuous streams of immigrants. The report pointed out that although the Mega-City
occupies only 37 per cent of the land area of Lagos State, it accommodates nearly 90 per
cent of the total population of the state. The average population density within the region
is about 20, 000 persons per square kilometre, compared to the national average of only 1,
308 persons per square kilometre.

The inadequacy of decent residential accommodation has resulted in the Lagos State section
of the Mega-City Region to record 42 slum areas as at 1985. Latest count has put the number
a little over 100. The effect of these ever emerging slum areas is disheartening as the
corridors of land along the Lagos-Ogun State borders have been experiencing enormous
pressure as the Lagos metropolis spills over to them. Neighbourhood areas such as Otta,
Ibafo, Mowe, Ojodu, Akute and Ogifo are already under heavy and intense pressure of physical growth with very few indicators of real development.

The prevailing idea is that these immediate areas comprising the Mega-City Region must be
planned to ensure that problems are not conflated simply because the areas involved fall
within one rather than the other state area. The report noted that greater attention must be
given to the implementation of planned proposals if the challenges presented by the
mega-city are to be seriously addressed. The report sounded that the problems already
identified within the Lagos metropolis is impacting on far-away areas like Abeokuta, the
capital of Ogun State and Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State.

It is sad to note that the prevailing problems identified within the Lagos metropolis, which
were in turn the reason for the new mega-city Project were earlier identified in 1980. These
problems were supposed to have been properly addressed in the Lagos Urban Structure Plan
[Master plan], 1980 and 2000. The plan was, however, never implemented. The experience has been a significant distortion in many parts of the plan. National Daily Real Estate reliably
gathered that some aspects grossly distorted are the Industrial Scheme Estate at Alimosho
that has been illegally converted into residential development; industrial and warehousing
facilities planned for Ipakodo, near Ikorodu Lighter Port Terminal did not take off; the
large industrial estate planned near Satellite Town east of Ojo Town was illegally developed
as a residential district; the planned Lagos State Ologe/Agbara Industrial Estate was not
developed because of lack of improvement of the wetland, and necessary infrastructure.

Further distortions were recorded in the weak take-off of the planned Ikorodu Industrial
Estate; the encroachment and destruction of the 'Green Belts' meant to serve as breaks to
curb the sprawling urban development which were strategically located between Alimosho and Badagry Road development corridor and between Lagos and Ikorodu; the Ogun River Forest Reserve near Majidun in Ikorodu has been excised from acquisition for expansion of Majidun Settlment; and the agricultural land uses at the inter-state border areas purposely zoned to break developments, protect the flood plains of River Ogun and keep away flooding along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway have been subjected to intense invasion by residential developers.

The impact of these various assaults on the planned urban structure of Lagos has resulted in
lop-sided population distribution, high cost of infrastructure development, drainage
obstructions, environmental and sanitation challenges, traffic congestion and numerous other
problems.

The Presidential Committee for the Redevelopment of the Lagos Mega-City Region proffers many solutions aimed at revamping the region. In its report, the committee stated that planning the transformation and re-development of the region requires first the recognition of the major activity centres so as to more efficiently disperse employment opportunities among them. This, the committee said, will help tackle the present problem of traffic congestion arising from the over-concentration of employment opportunities on Lagos, Victoria, and Apapa Islands. Twenty-eight, major activity centres have been identified. Their internal road system and major roads linking them have been identified and their planning and re-development with private sector support. The committee recognised the need for a system of ring roads to link the existing north-south axial roads that connect the mainland to the island through the three mainland bridges. The system is expected to witness the
construction of three-orders of highways Federal, state and local governments.

The second step is the improvement of planning activities within the Mega-City Region
through adequate provision of a cadastral database depending on the availability of
satellite imageries and the capacity to digitalising them along lines already initiated by
the Property Identification Exercise, PIE, of Lagos State. The committee further hopes to
secure more satellite imageries from the National Population Commission, NPC as donated by
the Department of International Development of the British Government, or from the National Space Research and Development Agency, NASRDA, of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. The committee advised that the basic unit for storing these data should not be larger than neighbourhoods in wards so as to develop an appropriate Geographic Information System, GIS, for the mega-city. This is expected to enable proper attention to be paid to the need to plan for open spaces, parks, gardens and general greenery.
The committee also addressed the issue of security within the Mega-City Region. The mega-city is grossly under-policed in the estimation of the committee. Planning for the enhanced security requires that the Nigeria Police pay more attention to establishing Police Public Relations Committee in every community along with community policing within the mega-city. The diverse environment of land, water and air in which the police will have to operate require the increase in number of the Area commands from eight, 8 to 15, and the number of Divisions from 83 to 100.

Curbing pollution within the mega-city is also of great importance. Industrial effluent and
raw untreated sewage discharge into the Lagos and Ologe Lagoons as well as the Ogun and Yewa Rivers have considerably impaired the quality of fresh water in these water bodies. The
committee suggested monitoring stations for both water and air pollution in order to improve
environmental conditions within the Mega-City.

The committee noted that the Mega-City Region is susceptible to frequent flooding. This
phenomenon is further aggravated by man-made factors as blocking of drainage channels, poor physical planning and poor sanitation. The committee deplored the fact that three drainage master plans have been prepared, with none executed. Serious erosion activities have also resulted from illegal mining of sand and laterite, and the development of squatter
settlements in different parts of the mega-city. The solution to incessant flooding lies in
the prompt implementation of the existing drainage master plans.

Proper supply of potable water to household is of importance to the mega-city. At present,
the mega-city has three main surface abstraction water works at Iju/Isheri and Adiyan on the
Ogun River and Ishasi on the Owo River. A 1986 three-phased programme of water supply
development for the Mega-City Region has been proposed and extended up to 2020.

In the estimation of the committee, the mega-city requires about 6,000 mega watts, mw, of
electricity of which only 1,000 mw is being supplied by the Power Holding Company of
Nigeria, PHCN. With the projection of the need to rise as high as between 15,000mw and
20,000mw by 2020, the committee is proposing the encouragement of Independent Power
Producing, IPP, companies to participate in the generation of the required energy.

The committee also addressed the issue of fire outbreaks. It discovered that the mega-city
now has 21, fire service stations in various locations. It, however, proposed a four-tier
hierarchy of fire-stations, Market, local government, municipal and metropolitan. It, again,
suggested the development of a master-plan for the location of water hydrants at realistic
distances within the Mega-City with access to water either from water mains or boreholes.
Upon its subsequent passage into law by the National Assembly, the Lagos mega-city
Development Authority is meant to implement the proposals of the Presidential Committee on the Redevelopment of the Lagos Mega-City Region.

CASE STUDY OF LAGOS

2007-07-18T02:13:00.002-07:00

7. CASE STUDY OF LAGOS
7.1.Geography and climate
Lagos is the biggest and most important city in the Federation of Nigeria. The country, which is
located in the coast of West Africa, consists of 30 states. Nigeria shares borders with Benin,
Cameroon and Niger. Lagos is the main city of Lagos State, which is situated in the southwestern
coast of Nigeria. The Metropolitan area of Lagos takes up to 37 per cent of the land area of Lagos
State and houses about 90 per cents of its population (Unicef 1995, Aina 1990a).
The area of Lagos constitutes of two major regions: the Island, which is the original city and the
Mainland, which is made up by rapidly growing settlements. The climate in Lagos is tropical, hot
and wet. The environment is characteristic as coastal with wetlands, sandy barrier islands, beaches,
low-lying tidal flats and estuaries. The average temperature in Lagos is 27 °C and the annual
average rainfall 1532 mm (Aina 1994, Peil 1991).
Picture 7.1. View of Lagos from Surulele. (http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/webcards.html#pick_up)
7.2.Economy
Lagos was until 1991 the capital of Nigeria. Nowadays Abuja is country’s administrative and
political capital but Lagos is still Nigeria’s industrial, commercial and financial center. Lagos is
estimated to count for over 60 per cent of nation’s industrial and commercial establishment, 90 per
cent of foreign trade and controlling about 80 per cent of the total value of the imports of the
country. It benefits Nigeria’s oil, natural gas, coal, fuel wood and water. Also about 70 per cent of
the national industrial investment are in the Metropolitan Lagos (Aina 1994, UN 1995, McNulty
1988).
7.3.Population
7.3.1. Urbanization
The population in Lagos started to grow since 1970 due to migration from rural areas and high
fertility rate. Even the fertility rate is lower in Lagos than in the countryside, in the future the city
population tends to grow more than the population in rural areas. Also migration to the city does not
seem to decrease, rather increase. The population growth in the last ten years was highest than ever
and the growth in the future is estimated to be even higher
Figure 7. 1. Population in Lagos.
Lagos is the biggest city in West Africa. It was the first city in the continent to become one of the
world’s ten largest cities. At the moment the population is about 14 million but the city is projected
to be one of the world’s five biggest cities already by 2005. Population in the city is expected to
grow at the annual rate of 4 per cent for the next 20 years, reaching 24 million people by 2015.
Then it is expected to rank third among the world’s cities. The population density was 20 000
persons per km2 already in 1988, but it has increased a lot from this in the past 13 years (Bilsborrow
1998, Peil 1991).
7.3.2. Migration
The total population growth rate is much higher in Lagos than the national average. Between 1953
and 1980 the annual growth rate was 9.4 per cent which from, net migration rate was 5.4 per cent.
Also at the moment migration takes the biggest part of the population growth in the city and it is
estimated to even increase from the past (Bilsborrow 1998b, McNulty 1988).
Because Lagos is smallest state in Nigeria, the government has tried to change the capital to central
Nigeria, Abuja. This is one way to control the enormous migration and urbanization in Lagos.
Although, the population in Lagos is growing all the time and the pull factors of the city are high,
even higher than Abuja’s (UN 1995).
Population in Lagos
0
4000000
8000000
12000000
16000000
20000000
24000000
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Time (years)
Population
Population in
Lagos
7.3.2.1.Push and pull factors
Lagos is a unique national center for trade and commerce in Nigeria so the pull factors of the city
are evident. The main motivation for migration to Lagos is economic. Income levels are higher in
Metropolitan Lagos than in other regions of Nigeria. Many people come to Lagos in search for a job
and most of these migrants tend to work within the informal sector (Kuvaja 2001, McNulty 1988).
The main push factors to Lagos are poverty, too small arable land areas per persons, big family
sizes and worse soil quality. Due to these factors many rural people do not have other choice than to
move to the city and try their luck. Fortunately the nepotism is so strong that immigrants are often
welcomed to live in the houses of their relatives and often the first job is household work in their
relatives' houses. ( Rinne 2001)
7.4.Water resources
7.4.1. Water supply
Water supply to Lagos comes from surface and groundwater sources. Water losses caused by
leaking and illegal use are considerable and due to this the water supply of the city is inadequate. It
is estimated that only about 85 per cent of households in Lagos have access to safe water. In Lagos
12 percent of population use piped water, 33 per cent public taps, 35 per cent hand pumps, 11
percent ponds, 2 per cent wells, and 3 percent other sources. The distance to water source in Lagos
is for 11 per cent of the population more than one kilometer and for 89 per cent less than one
kilometer. In Lagos male, female and children participate in fetching of the water (Unicef 1995,
Aina 1994, Uduku 1994).
7.4.2. Demand of water
The demand of water in Lagos is much bigger than the supply. Many people use too small amount
of water because they either do not have access to water or they have to carry it from far away. In
the city only 216.000 cubic meters of treated water is available. The reliability and quality of water
supply is often not adequate and sometimes inhabitants have to survive without water for couple of
days. In this case residents have only two opportunities, buy water from vendors with very high
price or steel it from neighbors well. Often the quality of water bought by vendors is insufficient
and people get illnesses, like diarrhea from it. The price of the bought water from vendors in Lagos
is normally 4 to 10 times higher than the water got from piped water supplies (Harday et.al.2001,
Rinne 2001).
7.4.3. Wastewater treatment and sanitation
Wastewater treatment in Lagos is almost non-existing; only few per cents of it is treated. Also the
sewage systems of the city are poor, the only conventional sewerage system is in the metropolitan
area of Lagos, Victoria Island, which is the first commercial area in the city. Due to an inadequate
sewerage, much of the excreta and sullage is disposed of by the drainage of rainwater through open
ditches. During the dry season, when the flushing action of rainfall is not existing, drainage
channels become blocked with solids, creating stagnant pond of contaminated water. Some people
even use this water for household purposes (UN 1995).
About 94 percent of the population in Lagos have access to sanitary toilets, 56 per cent of
population use sewage toilets, 33 percent of pit latrines and 4 septic tanks. The rest of the
population uses pail, bush, river/stream or other kind of unconventional toilets. Likewise most of
these sanitary toilets are water closets only by name. It is quite normal than water doesn’t run in
these toilets or water is wastewater from other households (FOS 1997, Aina 1994, Unicef 1995).
7.4.3.1.Water quality
Sources of pollution of the Lagos estuary includes breweries, food processing industries, chemical
industries, solid wastes from houses, sawmills and domestic sewage. The estuary is a sink for
disposal of liquid, solid and gaseous wastes for the entire city. Sawdust from the sawmills is very
harmful because it causes silting, eutrophication, and harm the lives of fishes by clogging their gills.
Contamination of groundwater in Lagos is sometimes evident due to flooding which carries sewage
to the wells. Likewise seepage from industrial storage systems is normal. Contamination of pipe
water sources in Lagos is also common. This is either result of inadequate functioning of treatment
plants or lack of treatment. Contamination can also occur due to water tankers, through pipe or
storage systems (Aina 1994).
In piped water Escherishia coli, Salmonella, Streptococcus and Bacillus are normal contaminants.
This indicates to faecal pollution of human and animal origin. This impurity leads to diarrhea,
guinea worm, cholera and typhoid. Malaria, respiratory illnesses and measles are also normal
diseases in the area. In general Lagosian people do not boil the water they drink, they either buy
pure water from vendors or clear the water with aluminum. The visible clarity is more important to
Lagosian than microbiological clearance. Filters are not often used (Rinne 2001, Aina 1994).
7.4.4. Flooding
Flooding is a big problem in Lagos, even during the mild rainfalls streets are flooded and many
times water rises to house levels. Intensity of rainfall in short period, in rainy season, leads to
extremely high runoffs and floods. Lagos is partly extremely flat which makes the situation even
worse and prevents the water discharge to the sea. Due to poor soil infiltration only a small
proportion of rainwater seeps into the ground (Aina 1994).
Due to bad infrastructure planning, buildings often block natural watercourses and canals are too
narrow to convey rainwater away from the area. Roads are often unpaved and the hard rain makes
them muddy and bumpy. Inhabitants of the city wish to have expanded canals, paved roads and
better drainage to prevent flooding of homes and other problems during the rains (Nwangwu 1998,
Rinne 2001).
7.5.Environment
Lagos has often been referred to as the dirtiest, most disorganized, and the most unsafe mega-city in
the world. Lagos is seen as an intolerable place, which offers minimum resources for a healthy,
safe, and productive life. The problems in the city are similar to all the other mega-cities; traffic
jams make transportation inefficient, waste management is malfunctioning leaving tons of waste on
the streets, water resources are overused or polluted and inadequate housing, as well as slums, are
becoming reality for an increasing number of inhabitants. It has been estimated that the
infrastructure of Lagos is able to fulfill the needs of 300.000 people, although the population
nowadays is 14 million. Due to this it is clear that the infrastructure is not sufficient. (Kuvaja 2001).
Picture 7. 2. Tinubu square in Lagos. (http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/webcards.html#pick_up)
7.5.1. Solid wastes
About 66 per cent of the solid wastes in Lagos area are disposed. Waste is either disposed through
private or community efforts or left at various illegal dumps. The disposal is hardly ever done
properly; garbage is being dumped in valleys or swamps or untreated industrial waste is dumped to
public drains or surface water bodies. The solid waste problem is huge in Lagos with mountains of
garbage and hardly bearable stench. The estimated amount of generated solid wastes is almost
million tons per year (Aina 1994, Ogu 2000).
7.5.2. Housing
The lack of housing facilities in Lagos is enormous. Even the middle-income people have to live in
very crowded accommodations. It is normal that the size of the family is five or more persons and
they all live together in the small room, average on 4.30 m2. Most of the houses are in poor
conditions and the facilities in them are shared. The poor condition often includes lack of basic
services, serious flooding and bad house conditions. Most of the people live in the compounds,
face-to-face-facilities. Even in the better houses water often has to be carried from the backyard.
Sewage systems are non-existing, only in some high-income areas sewage is served (Aina 1990).
7.5.2.1. Shomulu local government area in Lagos
Shomulu is one of the most densely populated areas in the central Lagos consisting of more than
one million inhabitants. The area represents common neighborhood in Lagos, about 45 per cent of
Lagosians live in this kind of accommodations. Majority of the houses are low- and middle income
houses, and services such as health care, schools, roads, water systems, electricity, and communal
waste management are somehow provided. However these services are not reliable and people have
to often rely on self-help. Already in 1970’s the majority of Lagosian families lived in one-room
dwellings. At that time the average family size was almost five persons. Due to population growth
in the city the occupation of the rooms is estimated to be nowadays even higher (LHO 1996).
Slum or not?
Commonly the low-income houses are referred to as slums. In Lagos the situation is other. The
common type of housing (face-me-face-you) cannot be considered shelf-help, spontaneous, or
illegal. The houses are well constructed, and the city plans their communal services, either both are
not properly done. The lack of housing in the city is high and different social groups have to live in
this kind of accommodations even they would have more money. The rent is paid regularly and
houses are registered and legal. Even the way of living in Lagosian “slums” is not similar to other
study regions slums, they face many of the same problems; lack of adequate sanitation and water
supply, malfunctioning waste management system, bad roads and limited access to municipal
electricity sources (Nwangwu 1998).
Problems in Shomulu
Shomulu is placed to the unplanned area and the land use is uncontrolled. There is no planned trees
or green places but all the places are full of shops, houses or garbage. The area is often flooded and
it is overcrowded and dirty. There is no sewer system or drainage. Roads are unpaved and bad and
waste disposal is uncontrolled. Buildings are in bad condition, built with poor building materials
and there is no air space between them (Aina 1994).
Water distribution
Most of the compound has one tap, which is located to the backyard of the compound. All the
members use tap water to household purposes, drinking, cooking and washing. This tap water is
also used for flushing the toilet and bathing. The water is carried in containers to the toilet and
bathroom. Because the tap water is not working continuously many compounds have their own well
from where the water is fetched when the tap is out of order. In some compounds the tap water is
not drinkable and they have to fetch water from taps in the other compounds. Responsibility of
fetching the water falls often on women (Kuvaja 2001).
Sanitation
Each compound member is responsible for sanitation maintenance. Cleaning is considered to be
task of women, but each inhabitant is required to clean toilets and bathrooms after use. The use of
facilities is organized by timetable, where the priviledge is for those who work outside the
compound (Kuvaja 2001).
Waste management
The compound members carry the wastes to the waste containers, which are kept in the backyard.
Then household members or “barrow-men” empty the household containers into the communal
containers. After this it is government responsibility to empty these containers. Many times
communal containers are not taken care off and people have to transport the wastes straight to the
dumping sites. Often “barrow-men” are paid to collect the wastes (Kuvaja 2001).
The common structure of Lagosian face-me-face-you compound.
7.5.3. Traffic
The traffic congestion is a fact of everyday life also in Lagos, where it takes almost three hours to
travel a mere 10 to 20 kilometers. The motor vehicle fleet is very old and most of the cars are in bad
shape. Even public transportation is quite comprehensive it is very overcrowded. Buses and taxes
are both in poor condition and they pollute a lot. Traffic congestion is common in Lagos and
because of high crime rate, robberies may occur during the peak period. The quality of air is bad
due to traffic and industries like in any other mega-city (UN 1995, Rinne 2001).
Toilet
Bathroom
Kitchen
Kitchen
Room (3)
Room (5)
Room (3)
Shop
Room (1)
Room (4)
Room (4)
Room (1)
Shop
Next compound
Toilet
Bathroom
Store
Store
Rented
rooms for
young men
from
villages. Do
not use
compound
facilities.
Tab
Waste bins
Street
Fence
Picture 7. 3. Traffic in Lagos. (http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/webcards.html#pick_up)
7.5.4. Crime
Crime is common in Lagos, especially robberies. Due to violence in the area, robberies often end up
to a murder. Police cannot do anything for the mushrooming criminality, so people have taken law
in to their own hands and they do punish the criminals straight away. This has leaded to murders
because robbers do not have anything to lose even they kill people or not. Robberies are normal in
traffic and even inside houses (Rinne 2001).
7.6.Summary of the case studies
All the case study cities Bangkok, Mexico City and Lagos are the main centers for industrialization,
business and foreign trade in their countries. The cities have massive populations and they are so
called mega-cities. Mexico City has the biggest population of 18 million. Even the populations of
Bangkok and Lagos are high they are four million lower than the population of Mexico City. The
population density is extremely high in Lagos, 20 000 persons per km2 and due to this housing
conditions in the city are very poor. The population density in Lagos is many times the density in
other cities. In Bangkok the population density is lowest 3,700 persons per km2 and in Mexico City
more than 6,600 persons per km2.
Over-population in the cities is mostly caused by uncontrolled migration from rural regions. Due to
strong urban pull and rural push people continue to move to the cities. Push factors are
deforestation, loss of biological diversity, soil erosion, flooding, constructions, diminution of arable
land per farmer, water shortages and other natural resource related problems. The main pull factor is
the attraction of the mega-cities. As big commercial centers they attract people in the search of
better live, better services and health care. They seem very exquisite and full of opportunities for
poor people.
The cities are all located in the tropical zone but their average annual rainfall varies from highest
1532 mm in Lagos to lowest 850 mm in Mexico City. In all the cities domestic and industrial water
supplies are provided by combination of groundwater and surface water. The water consumption in
Mexico City is highest of the study cities, 2.4 billion m3. Due to this high demand and location of
the city, water supply of Mexico City is not adequate and water has to be pumped from other areas.
In Bangkok the demand of water is 2.1 billion cubic meters and it is also highly dependent of
groundwater. In Lagos the water demand is only 79 million m3.
The piped water service is relatively well organized in the case study cities. The service is highest in
Mexico City, where about 94 per cent of the residents in metropolitan area enjoy piped water. In
Bangkok the service is lowest, about 66 per cent of the population has piped water connection or
standpipes. In Lagos 85 per cent of households have access to safe water. Even though the
percentages are relatively high there are differences in reliability of the service, quality of water and
type of the service.
Wastewater treatment is very poor in all the cities, at highest 10 per cent of the effluents are treated.
This has resulted to the decreased quality of the surface and groundwater. The situation is worst in
Lagos were only a few per cent of the city’s wastewater is treated. Solid waste disposal is organized
better in these cities. In Bangkok the service is highest, 84 per cent of the wastes are collected. In
Mexico City the percentage is 75 and in Lagos only 66 per cent. Still in all the cities some solid
waste is left on the streets, which has caused health problems and unpleasant odor, especially in
Lagos garbage piles in the backyards are a common sight.
Flooding is a big problem in all the cities, especially in Lagos the situation is really bad and water
rises often to the streets and house levels. Flooding is nuisance during the monsoon seasons in all
the cities. Other big problem is the land subsidence. Due to excessive extraction of groundwater,
water levels in the wells have been declining rapidly and the ground level has subsided. This has
happened both in Bangkok and Mexico City. In Bangkok subsidence has been more than 0.5
meters. Mexico City is an extreme case where the city has sunk 10.7 meters during the past 70 years
due to the enormous water demand.
City planning is poor in all the cities, especially in Lagos and Bangkok. In Bangkok the average
occupation of the room is around 6 persons and in Lagos more than 5 persons. The lack of housing
facilities in Lagos is severe due to high population density in the area. The poor and even the
middle-income people have to live in very crowded accommodations. The situation in Mexico City
is not so bad than in other case study cities. The average occupation per room is 1.1 persons.
Traffic congestion is every day life in the case study cities. The problem is due to poor
infrastructure, uncontrolled automobile growth, lack of effective mass transit system, inadequate
road networks and private car oriented traffic system. Due to massive traffic, air pollution and noise
bother the lives of the inhabitants. Especially in Lagos situation is terrible and it is said to be the
dirtiest city in the world.
Figure 7. 2. Table of different factors in the cities.
Although the cities are different they are all facing similar problems. In all the cities the population
growth has surprised the infrastructure. The housing facilities, water supply, road space, transport,
solid waste disposal and piped water service are unable to keep up with the high speed of growing
urbanization. The problems are sharpest in Lagos because of the high population, population
density, lack of finance and poor infrastructure. Due to these matters the air and water pollution and
environmental deterioration in the city are enormous. Especially the very low wastewater treatment
in Lagos has a great impact on the water quality and human health.
The main problems in Bangkok and Mexico City are also related to water supply, housing and
environmental deterioration. The water demand is very high in the cities, especially in Mexico City.
This has led to groundwater over-use and land subsidence. The land subsidence has a strong effect
on houses and other infrastructures. The quality of water has also decreased due to low wastewater
treatment. Flooding is also big problem in the cities again due to failed infrastructure planning.
Bangkok Mexico City Lagos
Population (million) 14 18 14
Pop. Density persons/Km2 3700 6600 20,000
Average annual rainfall (mm) 1482 850 1532
Annual water use (m3) 2.1 billion 2.4 billion 79 million
Piped water service (%) 66 94 85
Waste water treatment (%) 10 10 2
Solid waste disposal (%) 84 75 66
Persons per room 6 1.1 >5

CASE STUDY OF LAGOS

2007-07-18T02:13:00.001-07:00

traffic congestion problems in industrialized area Lagos, Nigeria

2007-07-18T02:11:00.000-07:00

Lagos, Nigeria

Lagos is the most populous city in Nigeria, the largest country in Africa. The metropolitan area, an estimated 300 square kilometers, is a group of islands endowed with creeks and a lagoon. Lagos is projected to be one of the world's five largest cities by 2005.

In an effort to reduce massive urbanization in the metropolitan area, the Federal Government is in the process of moving the capital to Abuja.

The original settlers of Lagos, or Eko as it is called by the indigenous population, were of Benin and Awori Eko heritage. The city began in the fifteenth century as a Portuguese trading post exporting ivory, peppers, and slaves. It subsequently fell into the hands of the British, who began exporting food crops after outlawing slavery in 1807. Although Nigeria gained independence in 1960, a two-and-a-half year civil war broke out in 1967.

After the war, migration to the city, coupled with huge waves of refugees and migrants from other African countries, produced a population boom that has continued to the present day.

Lagos is the commercial and industrial hub of Nigeria, with a GNP triple that of any other West African country. Lagos has greatly benefited from Nigeria's natural resources in oil, natural gas, coal, fuel wood and water. Light industry was prevalent in post-independence Nigeria and petroleum-related industry dominated in the 1970's, directly affecting the rapid growth of Lagos.

Oil production, which began in the 1950's, increased seven-fold between 1965 and 1973, while world oil prices skyrocketed. By 1978, the metropolitan area accounted for 40% of the external trade of Nigeria, containing 40% of the national skilled population. The world recession in 1981, which caused a sharp fall in oil prices, sent Lagos reeling into debt and runaway inflation that persist at present. As a result, a massive programme of infrastructure and social services expansion came to an abrupt halt.

Energy and water access, sewerage, transportation and housing have all been adversely affected by haphazard development of a geographically disjointed city. Unlike the rest of Nigeria, 90% of the population of Lagos have access to electricity, with the city consuming 45% of the energy of the country. Despite the region's endowment of water, the city suffers from an acute and worsening water supply shortage. And due to inadequate sewerage, much the city's human waste is disposed of by the drainage of rainwater through open ditches that discharge onto the tidal flats. With congested bridges, traffic congestion is a daily problem in Lagos: it takes an average of two to three hours to travel 10-20 kilometres. A high-speed, elevated metro-liner is in the planning stages.

Since 1985, state urban renewal plans have concentrated on upgrading the environment of slum communities by building roads and drainage channels and providing water supply, electricity, schools and health clinics. With cooperation from the citizens, success has been recorded in a number of pilot urban renewal schemes, which focus on building roads and drainage channels and providing water supply, electricity, schools and health clinics.

Infrastructure, services, and housing

2007-07-18T02:03:00.000-07:00

Contents - Previous - Next

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Infrastructure, services, and housing

Transportation

Up to 1981, there was no urban transportation plan for the whole Lagos metropolitan area. What often happened was that road networks were laid out in specific areas as they became incorporated into the built-up area of the city. There are about 2,700 km of road, about 40 per cent of which are tarred, and three main bridges linking Lagos Island and the mainland. However, inadequate land was generally reserved for road networks, with the result that some houses cannot be reached by motorable roads. In many cases the provision of parking spaces for motor vehicles was virtually ignored.

The problems of providing an efficient transportation system in metropolitan Lagos are threefold. First, there are the institutional problems, which seem to constitute by far the greatest problem. At least six different public agencies are responsible for the supply of transport facilities and the provision of transport services in the metropolis. These include the Federal Ministry of Works and Planning, the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation, the Nigerian Railway Corporation, and Lagos City Transport Services. Institutional reforms to improve the capacity for transport programme development and administration are clearly needed (Federal Ministry of Transport, Aviation and Communication, 1993). The lack of coordination between federal, state, and local council networks results in the existence of sharp breaks in road quality and maintenance standard. Similarly, the failure of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation to integrate development of government layouts with those of private developers has produced ineffective integration of road networks within the metropolis. The inherent physical characteristics of many areas, especially the swampy terrain, constitute a second important challenge for efficient transportation networks. This involves technical problems in providing efficient drainage networks and in building roads of a high standard. This problem can be surmounted, provided the necessary financial resources are available and contracts for the construction works are awarded on merit to capable and experienced civil engineering firms. An integrated network of underground drainage channels, though costly for the whole of the metropolitan road network, would eliminate the perennial problem of street flooding during the rainy season in the metropolis. The social problems of traffic control, traffic discipline, and the observance of traffic laws and regulations constitute the third main problem. There is generally a low standard of traffic discipline on the part of motorists. This is aggravated by the extremely low standard of traffic control at strategic four-way intersections. In addition, traffic safety measures are poor, especially with respect to cyclists and pedestrians, particularly schoolchildren.

During the oil boom period in the early 1970s, commuters who earned over 600 naira per month normally owned private means of transport, thus reducing the demand for public transport. However, the current economic situation in the country has turned many marginal car owners into public transport users. The emerging trend is that more people, irrespective of their income levels, now depend on public transport services for mobility. This trend is bound to increase, because car ownership is now beyond the reach of many workers, thus leading to rapidly expanding demand for public transport.

Estimates of transport demand in metropolitan Lagos in 1990 ranged from 7 to 10 million passenger trips daily, of which over 95 per cent were undertaken by road, primarily by car, bus, and taxi. Of these, 80-85 per cent were made by public transport. However, there has been a considerable decline in the number of vehicles available for public transport, particularly since the mid-1980s. The total vehicle fleet in Lagos State declined from 165,000 in 1984 to 100,000 in 1988. Newly registered vehicles declined from 72,000 in 1982 to 17,000 in 1986 and 10,000 in 1988. New public transport vehicles declined from 16,500 in 1983 to 1,500 in 1988 (Lagos State Government, 1990). Imported used cars and buses have partially filled the gap. In 1991, 80 per cent of the 35,000 used vehicles imported into Nigeria were concentrated in Lagos. Many of these are used to operate the unconventional, unregulated, and unregistered services called kabu-kabu. A survey of the kabu-kabu services in December 1991 recorded 3,961 such minibuses on 24 of the over 300 public transport routes in metropolitan Lagos (The Guardian, 11 February 1994, p. 18).

Total annual passengers carried by the Lagos State Transport Corporation have fluctuated from 90 million in 1978 to 53 million in 1983, 76 million in 1989, and possibly fewer than 60 million in 1992 (The Guardian, 11 February 1994, p. 18). Consequent upon the SAP riots in 1989, the federal government introduced the Mass Transit Scheme, under which buses were distributed to states to assist in both inter-urban and inter-state transportation. Lagos metropolis benefited from this. In addition, in 1991, the Lagos State government introduced new fleets of buses for metropolitan Lagos. In 1992, the state government bought 90 buses and leased them to private operators to help ease the acute transportation problem. However, the scheme appears to have been grounded owing largely to default by many beneficiaries. A Task Force has been set up to recover payments. As of June 1994, four buses had been seized by the Task Force. Other bus operations sponsored by Lagos local government, which started in 1991, have reached more than half of the Lagos State Transport Corporation's capacity. Eventually, in 1993, the Corporation was dissolved and its staff laid off owing to inefficiencies and frequent breakdown of the buses. A few local governments continue to operate their own intra-city bus services. However, the services remain grossly inadequate and private sector operators have taken advantage of the vacuum to increase their operations. The 14,000 taxis in operation carried about 1.1 million passengers in 1989. In contrast, the minibus and midi-bus operators may be carrying about 4.5 to 5 million passengers daily. They are thus the most significant means of public transport. This major adaptive service comprises mostly old, often rickety used cars and minibuses used to operate largely unregulated public transport and accounts for the bulk of the public transport service in metropolitan Lagos. They are the only means of transport available in some localities. The second adaptive service is the use of motor-cycles to carry passengers from the suburbs to the main transport interchanges or terminals. These two adaptive services have provided substantial relief to the working class and the urban poor unserved by conventional public transport.

Urban railways, even since mass transit rail passenger services were introduced in 1988 and 1990, carry fewer than 1 million passengers per year. In recognition of the acute need for commuter transportation, the Nigerian Railway Corporation, which already has a commuter service between Agege and Apapa Wharf, commissioned a commuter line from Iju to Ebute Metta on 21 April 1994 (fig. 6.1). This was the first such effort since 1965. It is claimed that the service will add 10,000 passengers per day to the commuter passenger capacity of the railway service. The most recent policy emphasis, however, is on greater use of the private sector to provide affordable public transport services (Federal Ministry of Transport, Aviation and Communication, 1993).

Apart from inadequate public transport, other problems of the road system in metropolitan Lagos include poor maintenance, and traffic congestion (Onakomaiya, 1978). Many roads within the metropolis need repairing. Potholes are often left too long before being repaired and such delays tend to increase the cost of maintenance. In addition, roads are often damaged in the process of laying water pipes and electricity cables.

Efforts made in the past to solve the perennial problems of traffic congestion have included the construction of bridges, ring roads, and expressways; restriction of access to the city centre on alternate days of vehicles with odd and even registration numbers; and the conversion of hitherto two-way roads to one-way. Although these are commendable efforts, they have not solved the problem of traffic congestion, particularly during peak periods. It was hoped that the proposed Metroline Project would have helped in reducing the congestion. However, with the cancellation and later resuscitation and drastic modification of the original project, other measures may be needed to tackle the problem. It is hoped that traffic restraint measures will be introduced in Lagos Island (Federal Ministry of Transport, Aviation and Communication, 1993). In addition, a comprehensive study of land use within Lagos Island, Ikoyi, and Victoria Island is needed, with a view to introducing policy instruments that would stimulate the relocation of certain activities to other parts of the metropolis, thereby reducing the pressure for commuter transport to the central area.

Water supply

Inadequate water supply creates a continuing headache for both private residents and entrepreneurs in metropolitan Lagos. Table 6.4 shows the installed capacity, production in September 1994, and problems of production. There are 17 waterworks in Lagos State, with a total installed capacity of 4,119.3 million gallons of water per month (MGM). In September 1994 less than half of the potential was supplied and typically only 50-55 per cent of the water demand of the metropolis is being met. Private individuals as well as industrial and other establishments tend to supplement the piped supply by sinking boreholes or wells. In addition to the problems noted in the table, pipe breakages, inefficiency, and lack of spare parts inhibit greater output. Mini-waterworks were introduced during the period of the civilian administration between 1979 and 1983. Their capacities ranged between 2.5 million and 3 million gallons per day. They are currently not functioning properly and need upgrading. The Adiyan waterworks, the first phase of which was opened in 1991, has a capacity of 70 million gallons per day. A second phase with the same capacity is being evaluated. There are also problems of water distribution. A project assisted by the World Bank to improve the secondary and tertiary distribution network is currently being implemented. When completed, it is hoped that up to 65 per cent of the demand will be met. The state government is currently embarking on a state water supply expansion programme aimed at supplying water for all, including its rural areas, by the year 2000. There are, of course, spatial variations in the adequacy of the service. For example, the old-established neighbourhoods of Yaba and Ebute Metta, with a well-laid-out grid-iron pattern of development, are better serviced than slum neighbourhoods such as Ajegunle (fig. 6.1).

Table 6.4 Monthly production of water for metropolitan Lagos' September 1994

Name of waterworks Designed capacity in MGMa Production in MGM, September 1994 % of designed capacity Remarks
Adiyan 2,100 1,715.05 81.67
Iju 1,350 294.67 21.83 Irregular power supplies
Isashi 120 91.93 76.61
Agege 72 - - Faulty borehole and NEPA problem
Shomolu 72 - -
Apapa 72 - - Major NEPA fault
Surulere 72 - - Major NEPA fault
Shasha 72 - - Undergoing rehabilitation
Isolo 90 24.00 26.67 Faulty clear-water pumps
Amuwo Odofin 90 - -
Alausa Ikeja 9.3 3.92 42.15 Production interruption owing to a burst main
Total 4,119.3 2,129.57 49.3

Source: Lagos State Water Corporation, October 1994.

a. MGM = million gallons per month.

Electricity

Metropolitan Lagos accounts for about 40 per cent of the total electric power consumption in Nigeria, but inadequate and erratic power supply for industrial, commercial, and domestic demands has characterized the service provided by the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), now renamed after commercialization as National Electric Power plc. The regular occurrence of intermittent power outages has led to nearly all industrial establishments in the metropolis acquiring their own stand-by generators (Lee and Anas, 1992). Some industrialists have claimed that, in recent times, they have had to depend on their generators and now regard NEPA as a stand-by. The ultimate consequences of this undesirable situation are low capacity utilization and higher costs of production. It was hoped that Egbin Thermal Power Station, which was commissioned in the late 1980s purposely to meet the electricity requirements of metropolitan Lagos, would improve the situation. It did for a while, until the station developed problems and could not obtain the necessary funds for spare parts. Efforts are currently being made to address the problems in collaboration with the federal government.

Telecommunications

In terms of telecommunication facilities, which could relieve the pressure on intra-urban transportation, the NITEL telephone facilities are grossly inadequate. Although metropolitan Lagos is the best serviced area in Nigeria, with most of the lines in Lagos State (which itself has 40 per cent of the national total), demand far exceeds supply and some areas are much better served than others. Although the installed capacity (155,000 connections in 1994) is yet to be exhausted (80 per cent of potential connections have been made), there are demands that cannot be met (NITEL, Lagos, October 1994). The problems include the need to replace underground cables and to expand and modernize existing external networks. A World Bank assisted programme to provide an additional 132,000 lines for metropolitan Lagos and to modernize existing lines is being pursued in three phases. Efforts to improve the efficiency of the service included the provision of digital exchanges for Lagos Island, Victoria Island, Apapa, Ikeja, and Surulere in 1992. This has considerably improved international links. However, there is still a lot to be done to ensure the availability and reliability of the service for internal communication.

Environmental sanitation

Lagos seems to have acquired the unenviable status of being one of the dirtiest cities in the world. An important element in this regard is the inability of the city management authorities to cope effectively with waste disposal. The Waste Disposal Board was established in 1977 to coordinate refuse disposal activities in Lagos State. Initially it was mandated to take charge of general environmental sanitation and the collection, disposal, and management of domestic refuse. Subsequently, it was assigned responsibility for cleaning primary and secondary drains, the collection and disposal of industrial wastes, flood relief activities, and the collection and disposal of scrap and derelict vehicles.

With the inauguration of the Board in 1978, these duties were contracted out to a firm of pollution control experts. The situation improved slightly. However, the contract was terminated in 1984 and the Waste Disposal Board assumed direct responsibility. The national environmental sanitation exercise has also made an impact on the level of cleanliness in the metropolis. On average the Waste Disposal Board collects an additional 55,000 tonnes of refuse monthly as a result of this exercise. However, the Waste Disposal Board has recently run into problems, because the vehicles and other equipment it initially acquired have broken down and need replacement. The cost of replacement has proved prohibitive because of the considerable decline in the value of the national currency. The problem of uncleared accumulated refuse has once again surfaced in various parts of the metropolis, and task forces are being set up to clear it, but it is estimated that one-third of the city has no refuse collection service (Aina et al., 1994).

The Board, now named the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, has adopted the strategy of clearing refuse at night, since traffic congestion hinders effective operation during the day. The target is to collect 5,000 tonnes of refuse daily, which is about 75 per cent of the total solid waste generated daily. Another problem that acts as a constraint on efficient operation by the Waste Management Authority is the fact that up to 60 per cent of the inhabitants of the metropolis live in inaccessible areas. It has been claimed that for each day the refuse van is unable to reach any area, it takes an additional three days to clear the backlog. A 42 ha piece of land is being developed in the outer metropolitan area as a modern landfill site capable of handling solid waste for the next 40 years.

Although the pail system of sewerage has now been eliminated and the majority of Lagos residents have access to a water-flushed toilet, the supply of water is insufficient and waste water has to be used for flushing. Treatment facilities are totally inadequate and untreated or inadequately treated effluent is discharged into the Lagoon and pollutes groundwater (Aina et al., 1994). In 1993 the World Bank approved a credit of US$63 million through the International Development Association for a Lagos Drainage and Sanitation Project. This is aimed at improving living conditions in parts of Lagos that presently suffer from regular inundation, by improving storm water drainage. It will also provide assistance to the Lagos Waste Management Authority.

Housing

One of the great challenges facing metropolitan Lagos is housing (Abiodun, 1974, 1976). The considerable gap between supply and demand has found expression in the astronomical cost of rented dwellings. Overcrowding, slums, and substandard housing are expressions of this problem. Prior to 1928, planned residential areas in Lagos were limited. They included Ikoyi, which was a reservation area for expatriates who were colonial administrators and executives of foreign firms, and had a population of 4,000, or 3 per cent of the population of the city in 1931 (fig. 6.1). Apapa, Ebute Metta, and Yaba, with a combined population of 22,000, or 17 per cent of the total, also had some element of planning, in the sense that road networks in Ebute Metta and Yaba were laid out on a grid and residential development was confined to the blocks within the road pattern. On Lagos Island, apart from the areas around the racecourse and marina, the indigenous housing was unplanned and was left to develop haphazardly, with houses built quite close together. Such overcrowded, unhealthy housing and poor environmental conditions stimulated the rapid spread of influenza epidemics and bubonic plague, which ravaged the city between 1924 and 1930. These led to the emergence, in 1928, of the pioneer planning authority in Nigeria, the Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB), which embarked on slum clearance and the relocation of families from the Island to the Mainland at Surulere (fig. 6.1; see also Peil, 1991). Since then, the activities of planning authorities have assumed considerable importance in metropolitan Lagos.

The Ikeja Area Planning Authority (IAPA) (fig 6.1) was established in 1956 to control development in the part of the metropolis outside the then Federal Capital Territory. In 1958, the Western Nigeria Housing Corporation was created by the former Western Region government with the responsibility of providing housing finance. In 1972, the LEDB, the IAPA, and the Epe Town Planning Authority were merged to form the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) to stimulate greater efficiency and eliminate delay, waste, and duplication of responsibilities in the housing sector (LSDPC, n.d. (a), (b), (c)). Table 6.5 summarizes the housing units constructed by some of these authorities. The period 1979-1983 under the Jakande administration witnessed a massive housing development programme. Nevertheless, the problem persists - mostly because of rapid population growth, but also because of the introduction of the SAP in 1986 and the threefold increase in the price of petroleum fuel in 1994. The federal government housing programme for Lagos, which was launched in 1994 under the National Housing Scheme, has stalled, amongst other reasons because of the spiralling cost of building materials.

Table 6.5 Planned housing schemes in metropolitan Lagos

Housing agency Scheme Remarks
Lagos Executive Development Board, 1955 -1975 Slum clearance of Central Lagos, 1955 to early 1960s, Olowogbowo Rehousing Scheme, Lagos Housing Scheme 1,847 families housed in Surulere. 1,337 families resettled in low-income rented houses. Subsidized by Ministry of Lagos Affairs
Other housing schemes in Surulere 14,537 family units(dwellings) provided. In all, 128,800 people were provided with housing
Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC), 1972-1979 Resettlement of slum dwellers from Central Lagos to Ogba and low-income housing in Isolo 1,000 families housed
Federal housing Under 1975-1980 and 1981-1985 plan periods 6,000 housing unitsa
LSDPC, 1979 to date Low-income housing 16,878 housing units
Medium-income housing 1,790 housing units

Source: LSDPC (n.d.(b)).

a. Each housing unit may accommodate one or more households.

Despite the efforts of the various housing authorities, over 90 per cent of the housing in metropolitan Lagos is still provided by the private sector and individual effort. Housing has been widely seen as a secure and lucrative investment, which enhances the owner's status in the community (Barnes, 1979). Whereas access to privately owned land through customary channels or purchase has made it possible for a relatively large stock of owner-occupied housing to be built, opportunities for those excluded from these means of access to land have been limited to areas in public ownership. As a result, squatting is limited and over 60 per cent of residents are tenants, some in tenements constructed by absentee landlords, but the majority in houses occupied by landlords of modest means (Aina, 1990; Peil, 1991; Aina et al., 1994). During the 1970s it was usual for a man earning the average salary or above to build his own house, while, as profits and speculation increased, interest in providing rented rooms for the poor declined. In recent years, declining real wages and high inflation, particularly rapid increases in the prices of building materials, have resulted in workers living so close to subsistence level that they have nothing left for investment. Today only the very rich construct new housing units. In response to the slower rate of new house construction, tenancy has increased and rents have increased more than fivefold since the introduction of the SAP. High densities, overcrowding, and multi-family occupancy of dwellings have long characterized Lagos and have intensified in recent years (Ayeni, 1981; Peil, 1991).

Residential districts range from low-density areas that have been able to retain their characteristics, through medium-density districts such as Surulere and Ikeja, to substandard settlements that lack basic amenities. Some former low-density areas near the centre of the city have been penetrated by banking, commercial, and office uses, leading to a recent state government order that houses in parts of Ikoyi and Victoria Island should revert to their originally approved use. Many low-income areas were villages or peripheral settlements that have been engulfed as the city has grown. Some settlements, such as Maroko on Victoria Island, have been demolished, typically without any arrangement for resettlement, with the result that the displaced residents merely move on to already overcrowded neighbourhoods elsewhere. In addition, in response to astronomical rent increases, the rapidly increasing cost of living, and the increasing insecurity of life and property, a drift of population to villages and towns in adjacent Ogun State has been detected, increasing pressure on commuter transport links from these towns to the city.

Crucial influences on the ability of the private sector to supply sufficient housing to meet demand are access to land and the delivery of services. The inadequacy of the latter has been demonstrated above. To conclude, mechanisms for obtaining access to land will be briefly discussed. Hitherto, land for urban development could be obtained from any of the following: the Land Use and Allocation Committee based in the Governor's Office, the metropolitan development agency (the LSDPC), or indigenous landowning families and individuals. Although the Land Use Decree of 1978 vested the ownership of all undeveloped land in the state, attempts to regulate the ownership of land and transfer of rights have never been effective. Interested parties, including professionals, tend to connive to backdate transactions to make them appear to have preceded the Decree. Currently, no more distributable land is available within Lagos metropolis through the Land Use and Allocation Committee (LSDPC, 1983). Today, land for development is obtained primarily through the private sector. Large landowners may in some cases rent land for the construction of temporary housing while they wait for its value to increase, as described by Aina (1990) for Olaleye-Iponri. Although there are examples of squatting and illegal subdivision, such cases are limited. Land rights in Lagos have historically been a route to political power and a source of wealth and conflict (Peil, 1991).

Conflicts over rights of ownership between the state and private individuals or village or family groups, or between members of families, which arise in part out of the lack of a comprehensive land register, sometimes lead to sales of the same plot to more than one buyer or to the demolition of structures by the state. For example, more than 100 well-built houses were demolished by the military state government at Ala village, about 20 km east of Victoria Island, in August 1995, despite a court order that attempted to restrain the government. Land acquired by the state in this way may benefit powerful and well-connected individuals, rather than ordinary residents. Land scarcity has become a constraint on the ability of both the public and private sectors to respond to demand for housing and accounts, in major part, for the predominance of small rental dwellings in the housing stock.

It has been claimed that, unless more vigorous actions are taken now by the relevant authorities, in concert with the inhabitants, to combat the appalling living conditions in many localities, similar to those that produced epidemics before the 1930s, metropolitan Lagos may face outbreaks of disease more devastating than ever before.

Conclusions

Undoubtedly, there has been a spectacular growth in the spatial expansion and development of metropolitan Lagos within the past three or four decades. However, the indications are that the population growth rate has slowed down in the most recent decade from an estimated 14 per cent per annum in the 1960s and early 1970s to an estimated 4.5 per cent per annum in the late 1980s. Thus migration to the metropolis is tending to contribute less to its population growth than the rate of natural increase. This trend is likely to continue as the cost of living in the city continues to rise.

Nevertheless, over the decades, metropolitan Lagos has become the pre-eminent city in the Nigerian system. Lagos functioned as the political and administrative capital of Nigeria from the time the Northern and Southern provinces of Nigeria were amalgamated in 1914, through political independence in 1960, until the federal capital moved to Abuja in 1990. During this period it acquired leadership among Nigerian cities in terms of economic and social activities, particularly in manufacturing, trade, other services, and, most recently, finance, banking, and insurance. Despite the downturn in economic activities at the national level, metropolitan Lagos is still the premier manufacturing city not only in Nigeria, but also at a regional scale, for the west coast of Africa. It is the most important seaport, both in Nigeria and on the west coast of Africa, with substantial import and export trade both nationally and internationally. Metropolitan Lagos is the most important node for telecommunications and the most accessible city in Nigeria by land, air, and sea. It has thus attracted to itself the largest concentration of multinational corporations in Nigeria. It has become not only a West African regional centre but also a focus of international interaction at continental and to some extent at the world scale.

Certain issues were identified in this study, resulting from the above developments. Among these are the problems of the liveability of the city and its sustainable growth and development, including problems of unemployment, and the emergence of an increasingly marginalized and economically pauperized group. The survival strategies of its inhabitants, especially the poor, were noted. The manageability of the metropolis and the problems associated with its governance also attracted attention. Also discussed were problems of housing, transportation, and service provision. Certain conclusions were derived from these discussions. Chief among these is the fact that, with the continued downward trend in the national economy and the more than threefold increase in the price of petroleum fuel in the mid-1990s, pauperization of the city population is expanding across the class hierarchy. It has become impossible for a salary-earner to live in the metropolis without an additional source of income.

At the same time, it seems that the responsibilities of the state to tax-paying citizens with respect to the provision of basic infrastructure are not being fulfilled. In effect, citizens are being double-taxed, as they have to provide self-reliant strategies for meeting their needs for a regular supply of drinkable water, a supply of electricity, and security services. On the other hand, it seems that governance at the local council level holds some promise for focusing attention on the needs of citizens. For instance, the brief experience of civilian administration at the local government level between 1991 and 1993 did see the emergence of certain dynamic individuals as chairmen of local government councils. These people were able, through dynamic leadership and innovative ideas, to mobilize citizens at the local level for development efforts in a manner that outshone the state administrative efforts. It seems that there is a need in the future to strengthen the local government system in terms of resources, personnel, and capacity building, to stimulate efficient and effective governance for the benefit of citizens.

Note

1. The 1963 census before independence is usually considered to be the most reliable census in Nigeria. Because of the unreliability of all subsequent censuses, due inter alia to the allocation of federal resources on a per capita basis to states, special efforts were made to ensure that the 1991 census was sound. However, the results are still controversial and the population of the city is still uncertain.

References

Abiodun, J. O. 1974. Urban growth and problems in Metropolitan Lagos. Urban Studies 11: 341-347.

Abiodun, J. O. 1976. Housing problems in Nigerian cities. Town Planning Review 47(4): 330-348.

Aina, T. A. 1990. Health, Habitat and Underdevelopment in Nigeria with Special Reference to a Low Income Settlement in Metropolitan Lagos. International Institute for Environment and Development, London.

Aina, T. A., F. E. Etta, and C. I. Obi. 1994. The search for sustainable urban development in Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria: Prospects and problems. Third World Planning Review 16: 201-219.

Ayeni, B. 1981. Lagos. In: M. Pacione, ed., Problems and Planning in Third World Cities. Croom Helm, London, pp. 127-155.

Barnes, S. T. 1979. Migration and land acquisition: The new landowners of Lagos. African Urban Studies 4: 59-70.

Enterprise Consulting Group Ltd. 1988. Industrial Inventory Survey of Lagos State. Vol. 1, Main Report. For Lagos State Government, Lagos.

Fapohunda, O. J. 1985. The Informal Sector of Lagos. An enquiry into urban poverty and employment. University Press Limited, Lagos.

Federal Ministry of Transport, Aviation and Communication. 1993. Mass Transit and Transport System. Management Programme for the Lagos Metropolitan Area. Summary Report, Lagos.

Federal Republic of Nigeria. 1972. Labour Force Sample Survey 1966/67, vol. 1. Lagos.

Lagos Executive Development Board. 1971. A Preliminary Sketch: Master Plan for Lagos. Lagos.

LSDPC (Lagos State Development and Property Corporation). n.d.(a). L.S.D.P.C. at a Glance. Ikeja, Lagos.

LSDPC (Lagos State Development and Property Corporation). n.d.(b). 50 Years of Housing and Planning Development in Metropolitan Lagos. Challenges of the Eighties. Lagos.

LSDPC (Lagos State Development and Property Corporation). n.d.(c). Housing Delivery in Lagos State - Challenges of the Eighties. Lagos.

LSDPC (Lagos State Development and Property Corporation). 1983. LSDPC searches for land for development. LSDPC Quarterly Magazine 29-30(ó): 8.

Lagos State Government. 1977. Statistical Survey of Lagos State November/December 1976. Ministry of Economic Development and Establishments, Lagos.

Lagos State Government. 1981. Lagos State Regional Plan (1980-2000). Ministry of Economic Planning and Land Matters, Urban and Regional Planning Division, Ikeja, Lagos.

Lagos State Government. 1989. Lagos State Directory of Manufacturing Companies. Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ikeja, Lagos.

Lagos State Government. 1990. Digest of Statistics 1990. Office of the Military Governor, Plans, Programmes and Budget Department, Statistics Division, Lagos.

Lee, K. S. and A. Anas. 1992. Costs of deficient infrastructure: The case of Nigerian manufacturing. Urban Studies 29(7): 1071-1092.

Mabogunje, A. L. 1968. Urban Development in Nigeria. University of London Press, London.

Manufacturers' Association of Nigeria. 1993. MAN Half-Yearly Economic Review, Lagos, App. 1.

Mehretu, A. 1983. Cities of SubSaharan Africa. In: S. D. Brunn and J. F. Williams, eds., Cities of the World. Harper & Row, New York, pp. 243-279.

National Manpower Board. n.d. Report on the Labour Force Sample Survey, Lagos, Nov. 1974, section 5.1.

Olowu, D. 1990. Lagos State. Governance, Society and Economy. Malthouse Press, Oxford.

Onakomaiya, S. O. 1978. Towards an efficient transport service for Metropolitan Lagos. In: P. O. Sada and J. S. Oguntoyinbo, eds., Urbanisation Processes and Problems in Nigeria. Ibadan University Press, Ibadan, pp. 57-62.

Peil, M. 1991. Lagos: The City Is the People. Belhaven Press, London.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Contents - Previous - Next

Traffic Congestion: A Solvable Problem

2007-07-18T01:59:00.000-07:00

Traffic Congestion: A Solvable Problem
More creative use of existing highways and rights-of-way can help us build our way out of gridlock.
All over the world, people are choosing to travel by automobile because this flexible mode of travel best meets their needs. But gridlocked expressways threaten to take the mobile out of automobile. Transportation planners predict that freeways will suffer from unbearable gridlock over the next two decades. Their conventional wisdom maintains that we cannot build our way out of this congestion. Yet the best alternatives that they can offer are to spend billions more on public transport that hardly anyone will use and to try to force people into carpools that do not fit the ways they actually live and work.
The good news is that we can make significant improvements in our roads that will expand mobility for motor vehicles. Don't worry, I'm not proposing the economically and politically infeasible approach of pushing new freeways through dense and expensive urban landscapes. Rather, I maintain that we can make far more creative use of existing freeways and rights of way to increase capacity and ease congestion.
One way is to provide separate lanes for cars and trucks. Because cars are much smaller, cars-only lanes can be double-decks, either above the road surface or in tunnels beneath high-value real estate. Paris and Los Angeles are developing new urban expressways using these concepts. Special-purpose truck lanes would permit larger, heavier trucks than are now legal in most states and would allow trucks to bypass congested all-purpose lanes, facilitating just-in-time deliveries valued by shippers and receivers.
Although less expensive than creating new rights of ways through highly developed areas, reconstructing freeways with some double-decks and new tunnels will be so costly that it will not be possible as long as we rely only on today's federal and state fuel taxes. But charging tolls for such expensive new capacity is feasible. New electronic technology makes it possible to vary fees with the time of day and level of congestion and to collect tolls automatically without toll booths.
In short, the combination of innovative highway design, separation of traffic types, toll financing, variable pricing, and electronic toll collection will make it possible to offer drivers real alternatives to gridlocked freeways. Conventional wisdom is wrong. We CAN build our way out of congestion.
Fatalistic thinking
The United States is traditionally a can-do nation of problem solvers. But in the matter of traffic, we seem to have lapsed into an uncharacteristic fatalism. It is as if conditions on our city highways are a natural disaster that we must simply endure. Traffic congestion is portrayed as inevitable. Plans for our major metro areas show projections for the year 2020, modeled after funded road improvements, in which average speeds on major arteries continue to decline in rush hours that extend throughout much of the working day.
In its latest draft regional transportation plan, the Southern California Association of Governments says that daily commute times in the Los Angeles area will double by 2020 and "unbearable" present conditions on the freeways will become "even worse." The plan adds that "the future transportation system clearly will be overwhelmed." By 2020, drivers are expected to spend 70 percent of their time in stop-and-go traffic, as compared to 56 percent today. Similar predictions have been made for metro areas around the country.
One school of thought favors letting congestion worsen, seeing it as the way to break the automobile's grip on the U.S. consumer and to persuade people to carpool or take public transit. Supporters of increased mass transit see predictions of gloom and doom on the roads as the most powerful argument for convincing legislators to vote substantial funding for new public conveyances. In effect, a pro-congestion lobby has emerged.
But the notion that public transit is the solution to congestion is wishful thinking. During the past half century, some $340 billion of taxpayer money has been poured into capital and operating costs for such transit. Yet transit is used in less than 2 percent of today's trips. The average car trip is twice as fast, door to door, as the average transit trip. And it costs less. That combination is impossible to beat, particularly because, with the vast array of equipment available for car users today, people can more easily endure congestion and even be comfortable in it.
Public transit does have certain niche markets. It works well-indeed, it is indispensable-for many work trips from suburbs to central business districts in older cities such as New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, where the cost or scarcity of parking almost rules out the use of cars for daily commuting. People who aren't able or can't afford to drive their own cars are another natural market for transit. But this carless segment of the population keeps declining, and the old transit-oriented central business districts are declining in importance. Jobs are more and more dispersed, creating a cobweb plan of daily commutes in place of the old hub-and-spoke plan of mass transit.
In addition to pushing transit, governments have made major efforts to create higher vehicle occupancy by encouraging carpooling. Recognizing that the objective is to move people, not vehicles, the federal government has turned its urban highway enhancement funds toward high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes. But there is no sign that this focus has stemmed solo driving either. Forming, operating, and holding together a carpool is tough to manage. It also adds to travel time and robs participants of the ability to depart whenever the driver is ready and to drive directly to the destination. Carpooling imparts to the car some transit-like constraints, such as a schedule and a more circuitous route.
Even with its inconveniences, however, carpooling at least attracts a larger share of commuters than public transit. On an average day, 15 million people carpool, compared to fewer than 6 million in all forms of public transit. (Neither figure, of course, compares favorably to the 84 million who drive alone.) But carpooling, like transit, is in decline. Almost 80 percent of carpool trips are now HOV-2 (driver plus one passenger). HOV-3+ (three occupants or more) declined by nearly half in the past decade. And only a minority of carpoolers are linked through an organized trip-matching system. More than half of carpoolers now appear to be members of one family, most of whom would travel together whether government high-occupancy policies existed or not.
It's futile to try to solve congestion with public transit and carpooling.
In a few cases (Los Angeles, Houston, and the Washington, D.C., area), carpooling policies seem to have produced reasonable use of HOV lanes. But in general the program has been a disappointment; HOV lanes are heavily underused, in many cases carrying fewer people than adjacent unrestricted lanes. Like transit, carpooling seems to work for declining niche markets-drivers with extremely long commutes from fringe-area communities who work at very large institutions with fixed shifts. And it also works for some low-income workers. But carpooling does not benefit the vast majority of commuters. The statistical probability of finding carpool matches (people with similar origins and destinations at similar times) will continue to diminish with the steady dispersion of jobs and more flexible job hours, just as the probability of finding convenient public transit is declining. Moreover, prosperity has reduced the number of the car-less, which has in turn reduced the number of potential users of both transit and carpools.
Acknowledging the futility of depending on transit and carpooling to dissolve road congestion will be the first step toward more realistic urban transportation policies.
The problem of space
Many people assume that we don't have space for new roads, and many of the easier ways of widening roads have already been applied. Highways designed with wide grass central medians have generally been paved inward. However, there are still opportunities in many U.S. urban highway corridors to widen outward, replacing slopes with retaining walls. A recent study of the feasibility of widening major freeways in the Los Angeles area found that about 118 miles out of 136 miles had space within the existing reservation or required only small land purchases for the necessary widening.
If going outward is politically impossible or too expensive, one alternative is going down. Freeways entirely above ground may go the way of early elevated transit lines: torn down and replaced by subsurface or fully underground roads. This is already happening in Boston; the underground Central Artery is replacing the elevated John Fitzgerald Expressway. In Brooklyn, the Gowanus Expressway, built atop the abandoned Third Avenue BMT elevated rail line, is the object of discussion and controversy over whether it should be renovated as an elevated highway or torn down and replaced with a tunnel. Such decisions must be made not only road by road but section by section, through the messy and raucous but essential processes of local consultation and argument. In Europe, Asia, and Australia, spectacular examples of inner-city tunnel highways are being built where there is strong objection to land acquisition and construction of surface roads. Major advances in tunneling technologies, which have led to significantly lower tunnel-building costs, will make tunnels an increasingly attractive choice in the future (see sidebar).
Separate truckways
Providing separate roadways for trucks and light vehicles is an old idea in the United States, but one that has been ignored for the past 50 years because federal regulations forbid them. Some of the very first grade-separated, controlled-access roads (called parkways) were reserved for cars in the 1920s and 1930s. Many were intersected with low-clearance bridges and tunnels, some as low as 11 feet, so that large trucks cannot drive on them. They usually have short, sharp interchange ramps and narrow lanes, typically 10 feet, compared with the 12 feet that has been standard for mixed traffic lanes on U.S. expressways. The parkways originally had no breakdown shoulders or median barriers. The idea of parkways was to provide city people with links to beaches, parks, and other healthful recreation. They were designed with a special naturalistic quality, and most were not intended for commercial traffic.
Mixed-vehicle highways became standard after the Korean War. Communism was seen as a pressing military threat, and the federal government was keen to accommodate the Pentagon's desire for new roads able to carry heavy military equipment. The full name of the Eisenhower-initiated 42,000-mile system of interstates was the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. They had to be built with lane widths of 12 feet; overhead clearances of at least 14 feet; breakdown shoulders of 10 feet; gradients generally a maximum of 3 percent; and bridge and pavement design, sight distances, and curvatures suited to heavy trucks.
The beginnings of a new kind of truck/light vehicle separation are evident in bans on trucks in the inner lanes of roads with five lanes or more. In Los Angeles, a major project for the past six years has been squeezing extra lanes out of the existing pavement by restripping the old standard 12-foot freeway lanes to 11 feet. Studies have shown that speed and safety are unaffected by this lane narrowing. In a standard eight-lane Los Angeles freeway, this change alone contributes eight feet of extra pavement. The rest of the space needed for an extra pair of lanes is usually available in the median or on shoulders. In this "L.A. squeeze," trucks are usually prohibited in inside lanes. But there is pressure to make lanes wider for trucks. The federal width limit on trucks was increased recently from eight to eight and one-half feet, and newer trucks are able to travel at higher speeds. A number of proposals for new highways provide for truck lanes of 13 feet.
In the United States, as elsewhere, large trucks are a hot-button political issue, with truck lobbies constantly citing the economic advantages of larger, heavier trucks and motorists' organizations and local activists arguing that larger trucks are dangerous. According to James Ball, a former federal highway official and now a truck toll-road developer, both sides are correct. "On the major truck routes, " he says, "we need to build separate truck roads where we can cater to the special needs of trucks and provide the most economical mix of roadway dimensions and load-carrying capacity for cargo movement. Yet we have to get the trucks out of lanes in which cars travel. This is the only way to make the major highways safe for small vehicles such as cars."
The use of tunnels and separate cars and truck lanes would allow much more capacity within existing rights of way.
Although gut feelings about the dangers of big trucks prevail, U.S. trucks are actually small and light by international standards, so much so that they prevent us from obtaining the maximum economic benefits from our highway system. For example, big Canadian "tridems" (triple-axle trailers forming a 44-metric-ton, 6-axle, 22-wheel rig, compared to the standard tandem-axle trailer of a 36.3-metric-ton, 5-axle, 18-wheel U.S. rig) help Canadian producers undercut U.S. producers of agricultural products and lumber. According to a recent U.S. Department of Transportation study, U.S. freight costs are about $28 billion annually, 12 percent more than they could be if we ran big rigs on a nationwide network of freeways, turnpikes, and special truck lanes, with staging points for making transitions to familiar single tractor-trailer arrangements on local streets.
Designs for right-sized roads
Two West Coast engineers see the segregation of cars and trucks as a possible solution to the problem of building increased capacity in constrained expressway rights of way. Gary Alstot, a transport consultant in Laguna Beach, like many southern Californians, watched in awe as federal money built about three miles of double-deck down the middle of I-110 south of downtown Los Angeles as part of its HOV program. Built as bridgework on giant T posts, the double-deck section of four lanes is generally about 65 feet high because it has to go over the top of interchanges and bridges along the way. That puts the road up three levels. Not only is this height enormously expensive, it is also intrusive. In most places a highway authority couldn't get away with it. (This I-110 double-deck is in central south Los Angeles, a largely commercial and industrial area that activists don't much care about.)
Given that more than 80 percent of the traffic consists of light vehicles, it is wasteful to build the entire cross-section of wide urban highways to heavy truck standards. I-110 could have been double-decked under its overpasses instead of over them if the double-deck section had been restricted to cars and the overpasses raised by perhaps three feet or so. Alstot thinks that a 10-foot lane width and seven-foot overhead clearance would be adequate for passenger cars. He points out that the average height of 1992 cars was 46 inches, and two-thirds are less than six feet wide, compared to U.S. truck requirements of 14 feet high and eight and one-half feet wide.
U.S. engineers are following with interest the Cofiroute tunnels for the missing link of the A86 Paris ring road in which similar tubes are planned west of Versailles, one for mixed traffic of two lanes and the other a cars-only tunnel with two decks of three lanes each. The cars-only tunnel, according to cross-sections provided by the French, will have 8.5-foot ceilings and lanes just under 10 feet wide, a little higher and narrower than Alstot's proposed cross-section.
Independently, Joel K. Marcuson of the Seattle office of Sverdrup Civil Inc., came up with similar ideas while doing research for the federal Automated Highway System project. Heavy trucks and cars have such different acceleration, braking, and other characteristics that it is widely accepted that they will have to be separately handled on future electronic guideways. Who would want to be electronically stuck in a car only a few feet away from a tractor-trailer?
Marcuson suggests that plans for rebuilding U.S. inner-city expressways should include careful study of how to make more efficient use of the available right of way by segregating cars and large vehicles. This would improve conditions now and also help prepare for highway automation. (Most U.S. experiments in hands-off/ feet-off driving are being conducted in barriered, reversible-flow HOV lanes during the off-peak period when they are closed.) "A separate but parallel facility (for high-profile vehicles) would allow for the different operating characteristics of small and large vehicles, allowing different speed limits and different design criteria, both structural and geometric," he has written.
Marcuson has drawn up a set of highway cross-sections showing how high and low vehicles (trucks and buses versus cars, pickups, and small vans) might usefully be segregated to provide more lanes and better safety in typical wide rights of way. He shows how, by double-decking the light vehicle roadway in the middle, 14 lanes could be achieved in place of the existing eight lanes on a standard Los Angeles right of way.
Other engineers point out that in some places it will make sense to build completely separate truck and car roadways. A truckway might well have a standard two-lane cross-section with occasional passing sections and could then fit into an abandoned railway reservation or alongside major electric transmission lines, or be sunk in a trench or even a tunnel. And a four-lane divided expressway built with 10-foot lanes for light vehicles only, as compared to mixed-traffic 12-foot lanes, would be considerably more compact and less noisy and intrusive to neighbors, and therefore might arouse less local opposition.
The first application of these ideas may come in the Los Angeles area. The Southern California Association of Governments has proposed a network of truck toll lanes through the Los Angeles basin. Five preliminary studies are under way.
The market's role
Simply building our way out of congestion would be wasteful and far too expensive. What we need is a market mechanism to determine how much motorists value additional road capacity. As long as our highways are paid for mainly by fuel taxes, registration fees, and other general revenues, it will be impossible to make rational decisions about what road space is needed, and we will have no mechanism to manage road space rationally. We could create that market by instituting flexible tolls that would vary with the time of day or, preferably, the level of congestion.
Roads are especially in need of pricing because of the dynamics of traffic flow. Traffic engineers tell us that beyond a certain number of car-equivalent vehicles per traffic lane per hour on a standard expressway, the entry of additional vehicles causes the capacity of the road to decline sharply. Viewed from above, traffic on a highway nearing full capacity starts to exhibit waves of motion similar to a caterpillar's locomotion. The wave phenomenon develops because, although drivers are comfortable enough being just a few feet from the car ahead when traffic is stopped, they want progressively more space ahead the faster they are going. Somewhere around 2,200 to 2,500 vehicles per lane per hour (the precise number depends on the temperament and skills of drivers, the weather, and the visibility) motorists drive more and more slowly in an attempt to preserve a comfort space ahead. Sometimes many vehicles are forced to stop completely and wait. Other times the flow reaches a low equilibrium speed and all the vehicles crawl for awhile. In either case, the explanation is that just a few extra vehicles have overloaded the road to the point where, instead of accommodating the increased demand, the road is actually carrying fewer vehicles than it is capable of.
Freeway traffic flows are a classic case of an economic externality, where a few extra motorists inadvertently impose on many others much higher costs in the aggregate than they themselves incur individually. Only a managed, flexible pricing mechanism can internalize these costs and allow access to the facility by those who value the trip more than the toll. Such a dynamic market for scarce city highway space will also have other huge benefits. It will generate incentives for highway managers to find efficient ways of enhancing throughput up to the point at which motorists are no longer willing to pay. The market will also signal whether adding capacity (with a widened or parallel roadway, for example) makes sense.
This is well-established economic theory, but it has been technically difficult to implement until recently. Miniaturization and mass production of short-range radio components (byproducts of devices built for the U.S. Air Force for telling friends from foes and then applied in cordless and cellular phones, garage door openers, and the like), together with the development of high-capacity fiber optics and cheap computing power, make it feasible to levy trip charges electronically just by equipping cars with transponders that cost between $15 and $35 and are the size of a cigarette pack. Alternatively, video and pattern-recognition algorithms allow license-plate numbers to be read by a camera on an overhead gantry, and a toll bill can then be sent in the mail. Changing toll rates can be posted on variable-message signs on approaches to the toll lane, or they can be displayed in the vehicle or accessed online from home or office. This technology has been signaling changes in rates (which depend on time of day) in toll lanes of SR-91 Express, the investor-built road in Orange County, California, since the end of 1995 and on highway 407 Express Toll Route (407 ETR) in Toronto since September 1997. The first full-fledged implementation of dynamic tolling, in which toll rates vary with traffic conditions, is being tested in a three-year demonstration project in the high-occupancy/toll (HOT) lanes of I-15 in San Diego.
Variable tolls will be key to financing costly projects to increase road capacity.
Road pricing is being introduced into the United States piecemeal. Underused HOV lanes are a good starting place; flexible tolls will allow free-flowing traffic to be maintained by regulating entry on the basis of willingness to pay for the privilege. Right now, a few lanes that have been too successful as HOV-2 may need to become HOV-3 lanes in order to prevent the overloading that threatens their rationale of providing faster travel than the unrestricted lanes. But tightening eligibility from HOV-2 to HOV-3 normally means losing about two-thirds of their users, which would make this formerly heavily traveled lane seriously empty. Without a price, traffic in this lane is either a flood or a drought. By allowing HOV-2 vehicles into HOV-3 lanes on payment of a variable toll, highway managers can avoid throwing all HOV-2s into the unrestricted lanes, worsening congestion there. Pricing gives the road administrator a sensitive tool to manage its use, compared with the crude choice between changing an HOV-2 lane into an HOV-3.
Existing toll facilities such as turnpikes and toll bridges and tunnels in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco can also improve traffic flows and their revenues by time- or traffic-variable toll rates. Toll motorways outside Paris have operated differential toll rates on Sundays with success for several years to manage holiday traffic. In Orange County, SR-91 Express was the first to implement tolls on simple on-off express lanes that are part of an existing freeway. The lanes are a popular and political success, having gained three-to-one positive ratings in local opinion surveys since their introduction. Highway 407-ETR in Toronto is the first complete multi-interchange urban motorway system to incorporate remotely collected and variable tolls into its planning from the start. An average of 210,000 motorists per day are currently using it, and its high-tech toll collection system and time-of-day variable tolls are completely accepted and uncontroversial. The road is such an economic and political success that it is being sold by the provincial government to investors.
The best chances for success in introducing road pricing are in situations where congestion is worst; the toll is linked to new capacity (extra lanes or a new road); and some "free" alternatives are retained.
To go faster, pay as you go
In sum, there are several reasonable ways for the United States to build its way out of its unbearable traffic mess, notably separate lanes for cars and trucks, double-deck car lanes, and special-purpose truck lanes and roads. But they are too expensive to build with present highway financing measures. Discovering the market value of a particular trip on a particular road and charging individual drivers accordingly are essential if we are to build our way out of perpetual congestion.
We meter and charge for water and electricity. Utilities managers monitor their use all the time and make capacity adjustments constantly, without fuss. We do not fund an airline monopoly with taxes and offer everyone free plane rides. Yet that is precisely the craziness by which we manage urban highways. It is no wonder they are a mess.
The challenge is to gradually bring our roads into the normal business world, the world where users pay and service providers manage their facilities and fund themselves by satisfying their customers. This idea is gaining increasing acceptance among those who build the roads. A striking example is Parsons Brinckerhoff, the nation's largest highway engineering firm, which has proposed toll express lanes with variable pricing as the best way to enhance the major highway in Sonoma County, California. Its report observed, "If a roadway facility provides enough economic benefits to justify its development, there usually is an efficient pricing structure that will capture these economic benefits and permit the facility to be largely self-financed."
The U.S. love affair with the car is not an irrational passion. For most of us, the car is a time-saving machine that makes the humdrum tasks of daily life quicker, easier, and more convenient to accomplish. It allows us to roam widely and to greatly expand our relationships.
We must come to terms with the automobile. The failed effort to pry drivers from their cars has produced vast waste. More important, it has prevented us from adopting measures to fit the motor vehicle into the environment, to make it serve human purposes with fewer unwanted side effects. The problems on the roads must be tackled on the roads.
Advances in tunneling
Tunnels are expensive, but steady advances in tunneling technology have greatly reduced their cost. Many of the new techniques are lumped under the term New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM). Not very new anymore, NATM is widely credited with producing better bores for the buck.
Prior to NATM, tunnels tended to be of uniform construction throughout their length, and the entire structure was usually designed for the needs of the most difficult section. In other words, these tunnels were overbuilt. NATM emphasizes different techniques for different geologic areas, making maximum use of natural support so as not to waste manmade inverts (horseshoe-shaped frame sections) or other structural supports. NATM also emphasizes moving quickly after excavation to prevent loss of natural support by driving huge bolts into the rock to anchor it in place. Then shortcrete, a stiff, quick-setting concrete mix, is sprayed under pressure onto walls covered with steel mesh. The tunnelers install instruments that will yield reliable measurements of pressures and movements in the natural walls, which permit them to make informed judgments about what further support is necessary.
E.T. Brown, an engineering professor at Imperial College, London, says NATM manages to "mobilize the inherent strength of the ground" through which the tunnel passes, even though it employs relatively cheap rock bolting and Shotcrete. However, he also points out that in some situations what he wryly calls the OETM (Olde English Tunneling Method) of grouted precast rings erected behind a tunneling shield is superior.
There have also been major advances in tunnel-boring machines (TBMs), which were invented by the British engineer Marc Brunel in the 19th century. In the past 20 years, TBMs have become much tougher, more reliable, and capable of boring ever larger diameters. The availability of large TBMs is especially important for highways because they are the largest tunnels in cross section. Until the 1960s, the largest TBMs were about 26 feet in diameter, hence most tunnels had space for only two lanes of traffic. Thanks mainly to Japanese innovation, TBMs 34 feet across are now common, and some are even 46 feet, such as the equipment used on the Trans-Tokyo Bay tunnel, which has room for three lanes of full-size truck traffic.
Once upon a time, the principal challenge in tunneling was breaking up the hard rock and getting the debris out. Now with road headers (relatively simple machines that deploy a large grinder on an arm and a conveyor belt) and with simple mechanical excavators and precise explosives that move the toughest rock, expensive TBMs and large shields are sometimes not even necessary. The greatest challenges are handling water and minimizing cost by choosing right-sized support methods and walling.
Tunnel "jacking" (mechanical forcing) is used increasingly; mechanical forces move (jack) enormous prefabricated tunnel sections horizontally from a pit into the ground beside the pit. Excavators working from inside the safety of the jacked section remove material ahead. This may get to be called BTM, for Boston Tunneling Method, because the Central Artery project is carrying out the world's largest-ever tunnel jackings.
Another improvement is steel fiber (better described as steel shard) in place of conventional reinforcing rod cages to produce more economical rust-resistant prefabricated concrete sections for tunnels. Sealing and grouting continues to be improved too. Surveying lasers are helping to make sure that two tunnel ends driven toward one another actually meet and match precisely.
Another major advance in tunneling is the invention of the jet fan for ventilation. So named because it looks like the jet engine of an aircraft, a jet fan is hung from the ceiling at intervals along the tunnel and moves the dirty air along it. The air can be vented out one end, taken to vertical exhaust risers, or diverted into treatment channels and replaced, clean, in the tunnel. On all but the very longest tunnels, jet fans allow the tunnel builders to dispense with the plenum, the separate longitudinal ducting above a false ceiling that has traditionally been used to ventilate tunnels. That can reduce the quantity of excavation and construction by 20 percent and thus cut capital costs by comparable amounts.
Recommended reading
National Research Council, Curbing Gridlock: Peak-Period Fees to Relieve Traffic Congestion. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press, 1994.
Kenneth A. Small, Clifford Winston and Carol A. Evans, Road Work: A New Highway Pricing and Investment Policy. Washington D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1989.
Christian Gerondeau, Transport in Europe. Boston (English edition): Artech House, 1997.
Gabriel Roth, Roads in a Market Economy. Brookfield, Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Company, 1996.
Clifford Winston and Chad Shirley, Alternate Route: Towards Efficient Urban Transportation. Washington D.C.: The Brookings Institution,1998.
Anthony Downs, Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak-Hour Congestion. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1992.
James A. Dunn Jr., Driving Forces: The Automobile, Its Enemies and the Politics of Mobility. Washington D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1998.
________________________________________
Peter Samuel is the editor of Toll Roads Newsletter in Frederick, Maryland. This article is adapted from How to Build Our Way Out of Congestion (Reason Public Policy Institute, January 1999).