Solutions To The Problem Of Traffic Congestion In Phnom Penh

Traffic congestion has become one of the remarkable issues in the capital of the country, Phnom Penh. With the increase in employment opportunities and the development of this city, it seems that the city has attracted people from every corner of the country which makes the population in the city rise. Because of the substantial rise of the population, every day, there are queues of cars and motors getting stuck on the roads, especially during peak hour on weekdays, and this negatively affects the productivity and the environment of city. Hence, in this paper we propose three feasible solutions which can be addressed to make the city less congested. First and foremost, enforcing the existing traffic law is one of the most important solutions to bumper-to-bumper traffic in Phnom Penh. Since the law enforcement in Cambodia is still weak and inefficient enough, some people in Phnom Penh seems to go against a traffic law such as going through traffic lights, illegal parking and road closure for private usage. In fact, traffic police in the city should be out in the force everywhere to crackdown on those drivers who disobey or violate against traffic law and to direct the traffic. Having only traffic police is not enough; hence, the government should improve the CCTV system by using it to catch people who violate against the law on the road and sending them a fine letter to their home.

Additionally, in order to reduce traffic congestion, the government should think of creating a public parking space to help the drivers park their cars correctly and easily, not on the road which could block the road. Like illegal parking, road closure for private usage or celebration is the main cause of the traffic congestion in Phnom Penh. The practical solution to this problem is that the government should develop a centre for them to celebrate. Another method to manage traffic congestion is to make public bus a choice mode. Actually, government should thoroughly promote the public buses on television, radio, and social networks about the benefits of using them and give reasons why people should use public buses instead of their own cars or motorbikes. Moreover, as technology progresses, having an app telling people which bus number passengers should get on to reach their destinations is important. In an article on Khmer Times, Mr. Monyreach mentions that he and his team members are creating their own app called TosJis which can guide passengers which bus they can get on to their destinations, show the arrival time, and tell users where they need to catch the bus. Also, the bus system should look appealing and provide passengers convenience, accessibility, and reliability. All buses should be clean and good-looking both inside and outside, and each bus stop on pedestrian walkways needs to be accessible and comfortable for the locals.

More importantly, government should increase the number of buses so that it can increase the frequency of buses. One more things is that buses should be given the priority on the road so that it can avoid the traffic congestion and save time for people using them. If it is possible, bus lane schemes should be made since they enable buses to move quickly without disturbing from other vehicles. Last but not least, reorganizing and improving infrastructure helps make the traffic less congested. There are three strategic moves mentioned below for government to take into consideration. The first move for this case is road extension and improvement. By widening the road, we can make a big impact by lowering the time it takes to transport product from one place to another. Actually, some house can be affected by these expansions. However, there have been promises for compensation by government for the people affected by this, mainly people whose houses are affected.

Another move for this solution is to build more structures like overpasses and undergrounds to reduce the amount of traffic from the main streets. Doing this can split the number of travelers on the road in half and give more space for more vehicles, so the road can handle more vehicles at once. Also, with more routes, drivers can reach the destination faster. According to two reports from English. cambodiadaily. com and mpwt. gov. kh, to set these plan in motion, there was a donation around 4 billion dollars from JICA, and there were around 3 billion dollars from China, South Korea, Thai, Vietnam, ADB which is a low-interest loan. The final one is to shift factories locations which means that moving the big factories or building out of the city to avoid any traffic congestion or traffic accident. With this, all the big factories or building will move to the remote area or the outskirt of Phnom Penh which can prevent heavy goods vehicles like big trucks from entering the city, and it can avoid the crowd of the employees during peak hours. Based on an article from phnompenhpost. com, Phnom Penh’s governor Khoung Sreng states, “All warehouses and factories will be relocated along the capital’s new third ring road once it is completed in 2021. ” All in all, to achieve a modal shift in our city, our group has come up with three main solutions which are enforcing traffic law, making better infrastructure, and more importantly, making public bus service a superior choice, to tackle this major problem in this city. Actually, traffic congestion is a serious problem that needs to be taken into a deliberate consideration since it can pose unduly adverse impacts on people in the city. It is time for government and us, as citizens, to put the aforementioned solutions into action; if we still keep neglecting this problem, it will escalate, thereby affecting the lives of people in our endearing city in the near future.