Unapproved routes on Motorway Sealed

Construction Pioneers (CP), a road construction firm in the country has began tipping boulders on all unapproved routes and inter-sections on the Accra-Tema Motorway to mark the beginning of the closure of the routes.

The company has been given three days to undertake the work which involves the setting up of “Jersey Barriers” (heavy concrete mouldings) to halt the activities of drivers who have been using the routes either for entry, exit or to make U-turn. When the Graphic visited the site, tipper trucks belonging to CP were busy tipping the boulders while an excavator was on stand-by to level them up.

It is estimated that there are 22 unapproved routes as well as various inter-sections on the Accra-Tema Motorway.

Mr Helmuth E. Kriese, Site Engineer, told the Graphic that the company’s task is to close all the illegal entries as well as inter-sections on the road. He said the company will strive to ensure that it meets the three-day deadline.

He explained that under normal circumstances, there should not be any entry or inter-section on a motorway because such entries can cause a lot of troubles. Attempts to get officials of the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) to comment on the road blocks proved futile as they were said to have gone for a meeting elsewhere. However, a highly-placed source, which pleaded anonymity, explained that it is the indiscipline of the drivers which cause accidents on the motorway.

It said the GHA has not approved any road entry or inter-section on the motorway. When asked why the GHA put up a U-turn signpost on an inter-section on a part of the motorway, it said the signpost was put there for maintenance officials of the GHA and not for the public. It conceded, however, that the GHA erred by not informing the public about it, resulting in its being used by motorists.

Meanwhile, Mr Elvis Asafo Adjei, Regional Director of the GHA for Tema, has disclosed that under a long-term plan, the GHA is considering the possibility of fencing off the motorway completely. He made this known to newsmen during a visit to the scene of the accident involving the President’s convoy by the Tema District Security Council.