Kathmandu, February 15:

The disproportionate ratio of the length of the roads and the increasing number of vehicles is the main reason for traffic congestion in the valley.

Traffic congestion is seen especially during office hours — between 9 am to 10 am and 5 pm to 6 pm.

Saroj Kumar Pradhan, the chief of the Road and Traffic Safety Unit under the Department of Roads (DoR) told this daily that the number of vehicles in the valley has considerably gone up in the past six years. “As houses are built by the roadsides it is not possible to widen the roads by demolishing the houses and this has created more problems,” Pradhan said.

Rocords at the DoR show that the total length of the roads in the valley is around 1,000 km, while the number of vehicles plying in the roads has increased from 1,76,415 in the year 2001/02 to 3,17,502 in the year 2006/07.

Pradhan said mismanagement of the vehicles, the small streets and lack of awareness among pedestrians are the main reasons for the traffic jam in the valley.

“The DoR has come up with plans to expand the road from Tinkune to Suryabinayak and other recurrent road maintenance works are being carried out,” he said.

Jay Prasad Parajuli, Section Officer at the Transport Management Office, said: “Apart from the increasing number of vehicles, poor condition of the roads, the condition of the vehicles, rapid urbanisation and few peripheral, track and alternative roads are also the major factors contributing in the traffic snarls.”

Bhisma Prasai, Senior Superintendent of Police at the Metropolitan Traffic Police division said that traffic snarls seen in the last six months have been caused by rallies and demonstrations.