Assessment of pedestrian mobility on road networks in the City Of Kigali

Abstract

This paper analyzed and assessed the pedestrians’ mobility issues that are affecting their free movement and safety in the City of Kigali by outlining  the major challenges in the City and providing alternative solutions and measures for improving the mobility and safety of pedestrians. The  methodology of the paper was designed based on qualitative method with application of structured and unobtrusive. Referring to the paper  findings about the mobility challenges of pedestrians within the City of Kigali, it is noted that the mobility of the pedestrians and their safety is still  low and typical problems including road crossing viewed as the second challenges about pedestrians mobility, walking along very close to the road networks due to insufficient footpaths, lacking of enough road signs, lacking of information about pedestrian behavior on road networks, and  improper functioning of existing traffic signals as the first challenge. The paper found that the majority of road networks in the City of Kigali did not provide walkways, traffics signals designs and availability is very poor and some of them not functioning, zebra crossing facilities were not provided adequately, pedestrians shelter on bus stop are almost absent and ignored, vehicles travelling speed is still high and does not allow pedestrians to move freely, and the mobility of physically challenged people has been forgotten and there is a need of introducing the pedestrian overpass bridges in clouded zones of the city center, Nyabugogo, Kicukiro and Remera-Giporoso areas of the City of Kigali.

Keywords: Mobility, Pedestrian Safety, Road Networks, Traffic Signals, Pedestrians.