20 interchanges will help the country’s traffic situation – Road consultant

Road and building consultant, Engineer Abdulai Mahama has asserted that the government’s plans to construct some 20 interchanges over the next four years will go a long way to reduce traffic jams nationwide.

He believes critics saying the interchanges are not enough for the entire country will be proved otherwise after their completion.

“The 20 interchanges will help us for the time being. It will very much help us as a country together with the construction of the 120 of 200 programmed bridges. The interchanges will improve the conflicts we have at the various intersections in the country," he told Don Kwabena Prah on the Epa Hoa Daben political talk show.

The engineer, however, advised the government to not always look at one way of designing roads or solely construct interchanges to ease traffic congestion.

“We have to make sure we look at different designs in various countries across the world and see how they work. America sometimes uses the grid system and does not have to rely on interchanges all the time," he stated.

Engineer Mahama suggested the improvement of the nation’s arterial roads to compliment flyovers and bridges to lessen the traffic situation and save the ordinary Ghanaian and government from incurring extra costs.

Speaking on the availability of funds for the project, Engineer Mahama noted that the Minister for Roads has been visible on the roads nationwide; undertaking evaluation exercises and has the backing of the Finance Ministry.

“The Minister has the backing of the Finance Ministry and that means he has the funds to undertake these road projects. Based on the assurances he has received from the Finance Ministry and grants from Danida and others, he knows the budget for these projects can be realized."

Commenting on the Pokuase interchange which is set to be commissioned in a few months, the road expert revealed that the next bottleneck to absorb the traffic from Pokuase will be the Neoplan intersection.

“The Neoplan intersection will suffer the shock of the free traffic at Pokuase. The other places will not be willing to take the tragic shock and that shock will befall the old Melcom stretch. The one at the Neoplan intersection.”

Advising the government on the next steps to take if they want to prevent any traffic jams at the Neoplan intersection, he said, “To ease the impending traffic at that intersection, then a flyover should be constructed from the old Melcom building to the Dome road and that is the only way to help out. I have had this discussion with technocrats for the past 3 years to warn persons in charge of the road so we prevent the bottleneck from Pokuase from coming to the Neoplan intersection”.

The government plans to construct an estimated 6,000 kilometres of roads nationwide over the next four years.

Addressing a press conference in Accra, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah said 6,000 kilometres of roads out of the over 11,000 kilometres of programmed roads will be completed in President Akufo-Addo’s second term.

He said the roads to be constructed include town roads, cocoa roads, Sinohydro roads and roads that come under other critical projects.

The Minister also indicated that the government intends to construct 120 of 200 programmed bridges nationwide over the next four years and complete 25 interchanges within the same period.