Assessing urban mobility in Peshawar using functional zoning and roadway conditions

Traffic congestion in rapidly growing cities is often exacerbated by weak zoning controls, insufficient road capacity, poor pedestrian facilities, and inadequate intersection design. This study assesses urban mobility in Peshawar by integrating traffic counts, origin–destination (OD) surveys, pedestrian observations, parking surveys, and road-inventory data across six functional zones. A Composite Mobility Pressure Index (CMPI) was constructed from normalised trip generation, trip attraction, parking pressure, pedestrian pressure, and roadway-deficiency indicators and tested under alternative weighting scenarios. OD patterns indicate that Zones D, E, O2, and O4 account for 57.2% of total trip generation, while Zones A, D, E, and F account for 61.3% of trip attraction. Cars, motorcycles, and rickshaws together account for 78% of observed trips. Under equal weights, Zones F (0.718), E (0.705), A (0.663), and D (0.661) form the high-pressure tier; B and C remain the two lowest-pressure zones under all weighting scenarios. The integrated analysis distinguishes demand-led pressure in Zone D from curbside- and pedestrian-friction-led pressure in Zone F, a distinction no individual survey can provide. The findings support coordinated zoning reform, parking management, pedestrian improvements, public-transport integration, and targeted intersection redesign. The framework offers a transparent, reproducible approach for diagnosing mobility constraints in data-limited, rapidly urbanising cities.