Al Jazeera
Three years ago, tens of thousands of vehicles flooded into Myanmar’s largest city after international economic sanctions on the country were eased.
Now, Yangon’s asphalt arteries are gridlocked. What was once a 15-minute commute from the downtown area to Yangon International Airport – just 16 kilometres away – can now take as long as 90 minutes during peak traffic. In 2007, there were about 180,000 vehicles on the city’s streets, but that number has now nearly doubled, according to the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC).
On the five main roads running east to west in downtown Yangon, pedestrians often move faster than motor vehicles. A city-wide ban on bicycles and motorbikes is forcing many to walk through congested roads – weaving between cars in makeshift parking spaces that are replacing Yangon’s once wide and plentiful sidewalks.
As a result, the region saw 506 traffic-related fatalities in nearly 3,000 vehicle collisions last year, police officials told local media organisation Mizzima. This was a 6.5 percent increase in fatalities since 2012, which saw 475 road deaths from around 2,100 collisions.
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