Assessment of On-street Parking in Lokoja, Nigeria

Parking as an important component of transportation needs of the city to ensure safety and easy flowing of traffic. A shortage of parking space increases the searching time for a parking space and induces traffic congestion. The lack of well-organized and authorized off-street parking facility causes illegal parking on the carriageway and result in traffic chaos, congestion delay and accidents due to on-street parking which invariably affect traffic movement. To this end, this research work was carried out to study the effects of on-street parking on traffic movement in Lokoja. The research was conducted using questionnaires and field observation to collect the required data for the purpose of fulfilling the objectives of the study. Structured questionnaires were administered specifically at the locations/corridors in the study area where on-street parking were prominent. Four hundred and fifty one (451) questionnaires were administered to the shop-owners and one hundred seventy four (174) to the parked vehicle-owners. A total of six hundred and twenty five questionnaires were administered in the research.