Impact of Work Zone on Traffic Accident Characteristics of Kochi

The rapid population growth and increasing economic activities have resulted in the tremendous growth of motor vehicles which is considered one of the primary factors responsible for increasing road accidents in many metropolitan cities of developing countries, including Kochi, India. The projects such as smart city, Infopark, Fashion city and Vallarpadam container terminal paved way to shoot up the travel demand. The existing transport infrastructure in city is not able to satisfy the fast escalating travel demands and this result in traffic congestion. A joint venture by central government and state government put forward a rapid transit system called Kochi Metro rail, a light metro rail system with the aim of reliving city from congestion. Long term work zones are inevitable for metro rail projects. Proper safety measures are essential to meet the problems occurred during long term work zones. Economic assessment accounts for the catastrophe of daily commuters with relation to accident at bi-level involving pre-construction and present development stages of Metro rail project. Study find out the economic loss to city’s GDP due to accident occurrence and it is compared in a bi-level scenario. The study also suggests better alternatives of project management which have to be followed to minimize road accidents during the development stage of metro.