The Implications of Traffic Congestion Problem to the Socio-Economic Development of Owerri Urban Area of Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study is carried out to examine the traffic congestion problems in Owerri urban area of Imo state with the aim of finding out the major causes and possible solutions to the problem in the area. It will also try to identify various neighborhoods worst hit by the traffic congestion problem and to find out the reasons why these areas are highly vulnerable to traffic congestion. The study made use of both primary and secondary data of field work, oral interview, questionnaire administration, both published and unpublished materials from libraries and internet. A total of 500 copies of questionnaire were administered by a stratified random sampling. Data generated were presented using tables, frequencies and percentages. Analysis of data made use of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient. Two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 or 95 percent confidence limit to authenticate the findings from the generated data. Findings revealed among others that concentration of land use along one axis in Owerri urban accounts for about 56% of the traffic congestion leaving the residual 44% of the causes to other variables. At the end of the study, recommendations were given to improve the situation which includes decentralization of land use in Owerri urban.