Social Media Reportage of Road Infrastructure and Government Interventions in Road Construction and Maintenance in South-East Nigeria (Published)
The emergence of social media has ushered in a new era of information dissemination which allows everybody the opportunity to participate and contribute opinions and views on public issues. Social media is Internet-based software and interfaces that allow individuals to interact with one another, exchange details about their lives such as biographical data, professional information, personal photos and up-to the minute thoughts. Just as the conventional traditional media like newspaper, radio and television are used to communicate development issues, social media has also become a tool for development communication. This study investigated role of social media in enhancing the development of road infrastructure in South East Nigeria. The study employed critical literature review method. It was anchored on Development Media Theory. Two research questions guided the investigation. Findings show that social media reportage makes the government aware of the state of roads in South East Nigeria, this makes the government to intervene in the repair of bad roads in South East Nigeria. The paper recommends that users of social media should intensify reports on the state of bad roads in South East Nigeria in order to draw more government attention; social media users should balance their reports of bad roads and good roads to encourage the government to do more.
Keywords: Development, Infrastructure, Road, Social media, digital media, perspective; communication.
Analysis of the Effects of Road Expansion Programme on Shopping Attributes of Owerri City Inhabitants (Published)
This paper ascertained the effects of road expansion programmes of Owerri urban city on the shopping attributes of the inhabitants. The study was carried out in order to determine the extent to which road expansion programmes affected travel time, travel cost, parking facilities, accessibility and shopping expenditures of the city inhabitants. A survey was carried out using structured questionnaire on five point Likert scale. Three hundred and ninety nine questionnaires were distributed among the three roads covered in the study and were all completed and returned for the analysis. Descriptive statistics and Friedman test were used to analyze and test the hypotheses. The results show that road expansion programmes had significant effects on parking facilities on the three major roads covered in the study namely; Okigwe, Douglas and Wetheral roads on its shopping and marketing activities of Owerri city inhabitants. The expansion programmes also affected shops/market locations along the roads when tested at 5% level of significance. Accessibility to shopping centres and city markets were also affected adversely when tested at 5% significant level indicating increased travel time and access to markets. However, shopping expenditures showed significant effects on Wetheral and Douglas roads while Okigwe road showed no significant effects on shopping expenditures. The results of the analysis indicate that road expansion programmes had negative effects on shopping attributes of city inhabitants since it restricts access and increased travel times. The study recommends among others the decentralization of urban land use among the traffic attracting centres.
Uzoho, Akudo R., Ibe, Callistus C. and Ejem, Ejem A. (2022) Analysis of the Effects of Road Expansion Programme on Shopping Attributes of Owerri City Inhabitants, International Journal of Civil Engineering, Construction and Estate Management, Vol.10, No.1, pp.45-62
Keywords: Expansion, Inhabitants, Road, shopping attributes, urban city
Analysing the Effects of Road Expansion Programme on Shopping Attributes of Owerri City Inhabitants (Published)
This paper ascertained the effects of road expansion programmes of Owerri urban on the shopping attributes of the inhabitants. The study was carried out in order to determine the extent to which road expansion programmes affected travel time, travel cost, parking facilities, accessibility and shopping expenditures of the city inhabitants. A survey was carried out using structured questionnaire on five point Likert scale. Three hundred and ninety nine questionnaires were distributed among the three roads covered in the study and were all completed and returned for the analysis. Descriptive statistics and Friedman test were used to analyze and test the hypotheses. The results show that road expansion programmes had significant effects on parking facilities on the three major roads covered in the study namely; Okigwe, Douglas and Wetheral roads on its shopping and marketing activities of Owerri city inhabitants. The expansion programmes also affected shops/market locations along the roads when tested at 5% level of significance. Accessibility to shopping centres and city markets were also affected adversely when tested at 5% significant level indicating increased travel time and access to markets. However, shopping expenditures showed significant effects on Wetheral and Douglas roads while Okigwe road showed no significant effects on shopping expenditures. The results of the analysis indicate that road expansion programmes had negative effects on shopping attributes of city inhabitants since it restricts access and increased travel times. The study recommends among others the decentralization of urban land use among the traffic attracting centres.
Keywords: Expansion, Inhabitants, Road, shopping attributes, urban city
Design models for the Integration of Roadway transportation systems into the city’s planning (Published)
During the phase of preparation of new masterplan, urban planners have no scientific tool/criteria to calculate and to find the optimum value of road network area. The aim of this paper is to identify a calculation basis (design models), to be used during the design of new masterplans, and during the assessment of the road network in any city/town based on transportation demands (trip generation in the area).A new vision in urban planning can be represented by indicating the volume over capacity ratio (V/C), for each section of the roadway network in each LandUse, by identifying the mathematical proportionality of road surfaces, relatively to LandUse areas and population, relating these 3 factors based on the V/C ratio required, depending on trip generation rates and landUse types.These models can be identified by establishing mathematical models analogously related to the “Distribution of neurons in Mammalian Neocortex”.