Explaining Managerial and Infrastructure Factors Affecting Traffic Congestion

The expansion of urbanization and, consequently, the increasing use of personal cars and the limitation of the development of communication networks and the lack of infrastructure and the ability to equip urban spaces have led to traffic congestion in major cities of Iran. The purpose of this study was to explain the causes of traffic congestion in Sanandaj City, focusing on managerial and infrastructural causes, from the perspective of residents and key informants. This study was conducted qualitatively and by using conventional content analysis. The participants in the study were 22 residents of the city and 8 key informants who were interviewed in central interviewing sessions (4 sessions) and via in-depth interviews. A purpose-based sampling method was used. To manage the data, Max Kiddy 10 was used. The causes of urban traffic congestion from the participants' point of view in Sanandaj include infrastructure causes (city physical infrastructure, socioeconomic status and demographic situation), and management causes (macro level decision makers, planning and policies, actions at micro and executive levels, and systems and Public transportation). Considering the structural and management factors associated with urban traffic and urban transportation in Sanandaj is very important in macro and management planning. Actions at trans-provincial and inter-city levels are needed to solve the problems of urban traffic congestion in Sanandaj. Functional measures are proposed to reduce traffic such as the efficiency of the public transportation system.