TRAFFIC CONGESTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN BENIN METROPOLIS, EDO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Across the world, as the urban population grows, most cities are overwhelmed with more traffic 
challenges. The challenge of urban traffic congestion has become an incessant experience in urban spaces, 
especially in developing countries such as Nigeria. This research examines the impact of traffic congestion 
on the environment in the Benin metropolis. The research objectives are to ascertain the condition and 
state of traffic congestion within the Central Business District (CBD) of the metropolis. The research 
employed the use of a questionnaire survey as an instrument to elicit information from 385 adult 
respondents around the Central Business District. Given the assessment of CBD characteristics, the 
research reveals that the district is manned with diverse traffic regulatory mechanisms aimed at managing 
traffic congestion. The standardized beta coefficient of regression analysis showed that traffic congestion 
is impacted significantly by walkway trading, air pollution, and pedestrians’ traffic, resulting in serious 
environmental challenges. The research captured a total of 73 traffic light locations, of which 59 were 
observed within the core zone, while the remaining 14 were discovered to be in the intermediate zone with 
no traffic light at the outer zone of the metropolis. The Kendall coefficient of concordance (W) ascertained 
the extent to which the environment is impacted resulting from traffic congestion. The output result shows 
crime, poor traffic flow, and poor environmental conditions to be serious environmental challenges within 
the district. This research recommends that, on the aspect of traffic congestion mitigation strategy, 
expansion of roads, building of overhead bridge, and fixing bad roads were considered as major options in 
reducing the traffic congestion impact on the environment across the Central Business District.