Year: 2023 | Month: September | Volume: 10 | Issue: 9 | Pages: 89-105
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20230911
Development of Regression Model on the Impact of Rainfall Intensity on Traffic Congestion in Port Harcourt City, Nigeria
Engr. Fidelis. U. Didigwu1, Prof. G.N Ezeh2, Engr. Dr. N. Chukwuchekwa3, Engr. Dr. O.C Nosiri4
1Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, University of Port Harcourt
2Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Owerri
3Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Owerri
4Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Owerri
Corresponding Author: Engr. Fidelis. U. Didigwu
ABSTRACT
Severe weather (rainfall intensity) impacts significantly on transportation network. This research evaluates the impact of precipitation on vehicular congestion in the city of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Traffic and rainfall data was obtained for the month of June, July and August, 2018 at Location Junction, Port Harcourt. The data was analysed in excel software to understand the trends and patterns, and the rainfall impacts on road traffic through traffic volume and vehicle speed. For the period under study, it was observed that during the month of June, average traffic volume due to rainfall was 2584, while in the month of July, the average traffic volume due to rainfall was 2177, and for the month of August, the average traffic volume was 1446. The gradual decrease in average traffic volume was obviously as a result of increase in rainfall during the study. It also shows that rainfall affects traffic speed as drivers tends to slow down during rainfall, and this was used to develop a regression model that could be used to forecast traffic congestion (with respect to speed) during rainfall condition in the city of Port Harcourt. This model was tested in MATLAB, and the result validated the data analysis which was carried out through statistical tool (excel) which shows that when rainfall intensity increases, traffic volume and traffic speed decrease.
Keywords: Excel Software, MATLAB, Rainfall intensity, Regression model, Traffic congestion.
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