DISTRIBUTION PATTERN OF FEDERAL AND STATE ROAD NETWORK IN IMO STATE (2000 - 2014)

Abstract

The important nature of road transportation to economic, social and political development of Imo State has brought about the need for this study. Also, the fact that lack of logical distribution of road network coupled with the poor conditions and maintenance is a major setback in the socio-political and economic development in Imo State over the years. This study was aimed at establishing the relationship between the size of roads and demographic variables of the Geographical/Local Government areas of Imo State with a view to offering advice to policy makers in the government to be aware of physical aspect of road network planning like geographical area, population and population density in the allocation of Federal and State roads. Data were collected from the secondary source. The use of regression analysis was employed to determine the relationship between the variables for which data were collected. The results of the analyses revealed that there is partly strong and significant relationship and mostly weak and not significant/significant relationship between Federal/State roads and the geographical area, population and population density with R2 value of 42.13% on the average. On the overall, the relationships between the total length of road and two of the parameters tested (population and population density) were also weak. It was concluded that the government was not giving total attention to population and population density during policy formulation. It was therefore recommended that the government of Imo State should take cognisance of these factors during policy formulation. Other States of the Federation having similar problem were suggested to be studied in future researches. Further studies were also suggested to be carried out on the development and distribution of feeder roads in Imo State.