Krishna Prasad Sapkota

Approximately 1,800 traffic police personnel have been deployed to manage traffic in the Kathmandu Valley. However, the traffic congestion issue has surpassed their capacity. With a monthly salary of NPR 50,000 per officer, the government spends about NPR 1.8 billion annually on traffic police alone. In addition, large amounts are spent on traffic lights, dividers, signboards, etc. During festivals or special events, extra personnel are needed to manage traffic.

Despite billions of rupees being spent to widen roads in an attempt to solve traffic problems, congestion continues to grow. According to one statistic, Kathmandu Valley has about 2,000 kilometers of roads with an average width of 4 meters, but around 1.6 million vehicles operate in the valley. This shows that the number of vehicles far exceeds the capacity of the road network.

Moreover, more than 90% of these 1.6 million vehicles are concentrated in areas like New Road, Koteshwor, Chabahil, Maharajgunj, Balaju, Tripureshwor, Kalimati, Pulchowk, Kalanki, Thamel, Lainchaur, Maitighar, Jadibuti, Kapandol, and Gongabu. In these areas, traffic jams are common about 30 minutes before and after office hours, and during office hours, traffic congestion can last for an hour or more.

Every day, 50–60 four-wheelers and more than 500 two-wheelers are added to the roads in the Kathmandu Valley. This indicates that traffic jams will only worsen in the future. Policymakers and those in implementation roles are well aware of this problem, but no serious efforts seem to be underway.

Removing pedestrians or widening roads may offer temporary relief, but they are not long-term solutions. These efforts are like trying to cover one’s shame with their hands after the clothes are torn. Just like killing flies without removing a garbage pile won’t solve the problem, merely increasing traffic police, demolishing roadside houses, or removing vendors will not resolve the core issue.

The Kathmandu Valley has a population of around 4 million and only 2,000 kilometers of roads, meaning about 2,000 people share each kilometer. With 1.6 million vehicles, it’s not even the case that each vehicle carries three passengers. In some households, there are more vehicles than people.

Because the government has failed to provide reliable public transportation, people have been compelled to buy personal vehicles. This results in high expenditures on fuel, vehicle maintenance, and also increases air pollution. Public transportation is uncomfortable, disorganized, and unsafe. Sometimes, even a 2–4 km journey can take 1–2 hours.

Therefore, the first and foremost solution to Kathmandu’s traffic congestion is to expand a modern, technology-enabled public transportation system. If public transport is reliable, private vehicle use can be reduced by half.

Proposed Solutions

• Almost all government offices, hospitals, and schools are concentrated within a 4-square-kilometer area in the valley. Not just valley residents, but also people from outside the valley have to come to this area daily. This centralized structure must be changed.

• Major hospitals like Bir Hospital and Teaching Hospital should be relocated outside the Ring Road, and the vacated spaces should be converted into parking areas. This can help avoid delays in transferring patients from one hospital to another, which can sometimes result in deaths due to traffic jams.

• Similarly, colleges such as Bishwa Bhasa (Language Campus), Law Campus, RR Campus, and Balmiki Campus should be moved outside the Ring Road to free up space for parking.

• Government offices, colleges, hospitals, and consultancies should be decentralized and relocated outside the Ring Road in a planned manner.

• Overpasses and underpasses should be constructed on the 8-lane Ring Road so traffic doesn’t have to stop frequently. Vehicle movement inside the Ring Road should be reduced and areas within it should be declared tourist zones with vehicle restrictions.

• The empty spaces created after relocating campuses like Balmiki, Ratna Rajya, Law, and Language campuses can be used to build underground parking lots and roads.

• Private schools are also a major contributor to traffic problems. There are 3,000 schools and 800,000 students in the valley. Around 200,000 students use school buses, and 6,000 buses operate about 30,000 trips daily. These school buses alone consume 50,000–70,000 hours on the roads each day.

  • For instance, Siddhartha School in Banasthali picks up students from Hattiban in Lalitpur, and Little Angels School in Hattiban picks up students from Balaju. Such inefficient routing should be eliminated.

  • School bus usage should be restricted for students up to grade 10.

• It is nearly impossible to manage traffic without constructing 10–12 overpasses and underpasses at major intersections in Kathmandu.

• Petrol stations built along the roadside also contribute to congestion. Express bus services should be launched along river and stream corridors.

• Finally, in addition to improving physical infrastructure, reforms in policy, technology, and traffic management are necessary. Road expansion alone is not the solution.