Circle Interchange to be completed by May 2015

QueirozGalvao, the Brazilian Construction Company currently executing the project works on the redesigning and building of the Kwame Nkrumah Circle interchange has scheduled May 2015 to complete works on the project that is expected to ease traffic congestion in Accra.

Government through a Ghana-Brazil partnership has secured a €74 million loan to redesign and build the Kwame Nkrumah Circle into a major road interchange to feed the four main corridors it serves. Work has already begun with the reconstruction of the major component of the drainage works to connect the Odaw River.

The project when completed is expected to provide easy connections to major suburbs, and the different business zones in the Metropolis with fewer interruptions, and at higher overall speeds. In addition, it will provide less conflict between traffic movements and reduces the capacity for accidents.

According to Mr. Andre Luiz Albuquerque Carvalho, the Contract Superintendent in charge of QueirozGalvao - Ghana, the new interchange will provide a system of interconnecting roadways in conjunction with grade separations, the method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other transit routes when they cross each other to permit the ease of both vehicular and human traffic. Explaining that motorways, though having higher average speeds; usually have much lower accident rates per distance travelled than roads which are not grade separated.

He said the next two months will see a lot of activity in terms of the actual surface construction and warned vehicles and pedestrians to be careful when approaching the site.

The Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra constitutes the backbone of the metropolitan road system which facilitates movement and transfer of people, goods and services, to and from major suburban to the central business hub of Accra and other regional destinations.

Every day, this transportation spinal cord carries high volumes of traffic (about 90,000 vehicles daily) that result in slow vehicular flow, delays and accidents. This is due to the limited and inadequate connecting roads to and from the central business district area of Accra and surrounding suburbs. To put it bluntly, the Kwame Nkrumah Circle exceeded its capacity way back in the late 1990s but all this will change soon when the interchange is completed and handed over to the Government of Ghana.

The Kwame Nkrumah Interchange project can be designated as an "Interchange of National and Regional Significance" in because of the crucial impact it will have on the regional/national economy.