Istanbul traffic to come to deadlock soon, experts warn

ISTANBUL

With schools resumed and school busses hitting the roads, traffic congestion in the metropolis has started appearing throughout the day and is getting intense by the day, warns experts, saying that the city can soon experience a traffic deadlock in the absence of urgent measures.

The experts speaking to daily Milliyet have listed four immediate solutions to ease the traffic in Istanbul.

The foremost thing that should be done is to “open one lane just for public buses.”

Istanbul is home to metrobuses, a bus rapid transit route system with 45 stations via Avcılar from the European side to Söğütlüçeşme on the Asian side.

Apart from metrobuses, Turan Söylemez, a professor from Istanbul Technical University, offers “opening one lane for public buses” at hours when the traffic density is at its peak.

“Also, taxis can be permitted to use this lane. It will decrease the congestion,” Söylemez said.

The second solution is to realize a “smart junction system” as soon as possible in the metropolis.

“Junctions are points where the traffic density occurs the most,” said Mustafa Ilıcalı, a professor from Istanbul Commerce University. “Smart junction systems should start immediately.”

Ilıcalı, also the head of the university’s Transportation Department, highlighted the system was tested during TEKNOFEST, Türkiye’s aviation, technology and space festival, held in the Black Sea province of Samsun at the beginning of September.

“The system increases the number of vehicles passing the junction by 50 percent,” Ilıcalı said. “The first test in Istanbul will be held in Libadiye Street in Üsküdar district.”

Highlighting that the system is “cheap,” the professor said, “The cost of constructing a footbridge is equal to some 100 smart junction systems.”

The third suggestion to ease the traffic is to promote public transport and bicycles.

Some 4.5 million out of all 25 million vehicles in the country are in Istanbul alone. “Some 85 percent of the traffic congestion in Istanbul is due to cars. This is a luxury,” Ilıcalı stated.

As per the expert, the average speed of a car drops to 10 kilometers per hour during peak hours.

“If measures are not taken immediately, in a couple of years, traveling a 10-kilometer road would take around two hours,” he warned.

Halit Özen, a professor from Yıldız Technical University, said around 7.5 million people use public transportaioın in the city daily. The number must increase, he pointed.

Speaking with a single voice, the experts urged that using ferries during peak hours should be free to encourage commuters to use maritime transportation other than vehicles, as their last suggestion.