U-turns, gridlock on Ring Road Central despite Circle Interchange

The Ring Road Central leading to the newly opened Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange in Accra, reached a total gridlock Tuesday, leaving commuters frustrated for hours.

A traffic light installed at the Societe Generale Bank inter-section and another one fixed at a newly created U-Turn in front of the Paloma Hotel are being blamed for the traffic congestion that peaked during Tuesday’s rush hour.

The installation of the two traffic lights and the creation of the U-Turn formed part of the 1.2-kilometre Nkrumah Circle Interchange project, which was opened Monday by President John Mahama, to ease vehicular traffic that characterised the Ring Road Central area through the Nkrumah Circle to the North Industrial Area.

Just a day after the inauguration, drivers and commuters from the interchange towards the Ring Road Central were locked up in a heavy traffic as they spent about 20 minutes to cross that small stretch which previously took less than five minutes.

The traffic from the Nima Police Station area towards the Interchange was worse even before rush hour The situation was no different for those who were moving from the Arko Adjei Interchange area towards the Nkrumah Circle Interchange.

The usual traffic on that stretch was heightened Tuesday. By 1:30pm, even before the evening rush hour, the vehicular traffic build up had started from the Kanda Overpass through the Nima Police Station to the Societe Generale Bank intersection.

According to some drivers, the timing of the traffic lights, especially for those on the main road, is short, thus compounding the problem.

Many users of that stretch of road who were excited about the completion of the interchange now fear the purpose of the Nkrumah Circle Interchange could be defeated if immediate steps are not taken by engineers to rectify the situation.