Accra's Traffic Nightmare: A city desperate for freeways

Read Comments Comments (11)

• K 3 months ago

  Well written article and way too logical for the Ghanaian mind to grasp. We are busy building churches. It's a crime to think in GH.

  Well written article and way too logical for the Ghanaian mind to grasp. We are busy building churches. It's a crime to think in GH.

  reply
• DJ DEE 3 months ago

  Broh! You said it exactly. Too much traffic lights with long delays on red, it also contributes to the traffic in the city.

  Broh! You said it exactly. Too much traffic lights with long delays on red, it also contributes to the traffic in the city.

  reply
• GhMan 3 months ago

  It's Giffard Road, not Giffex Road

  It's Giffard Road, not Giffex Road

  reply
• NADAA2 3 months ago

  Intelligent analysis and observations.......ROUNDABOUTS are for villages and small towns.........

  Intelligent analysis and observations.......ROUNDABOUTS are for villages and small towns.........

  reply
• dandurawa 3 months ago

  True! N1 was supposed to be a true highway; no traffic lights. That is how the Americans designed it but our greedy, stupid politicians truncated that and changed the plan and that is what we have today. The most irrational a ...
  read full comment

  True! N1 was supposed to be a true highway; no traffic lights. That is how the Americans designed it but our greedy, stupid politicians truncated that and changed the plan and that is what we have today. The most irrational and obnoxious is a traffic light a few metres away from the La Paz traffic light for pedestrians. You go past that and stop at the La Paz traffic light. After scaling that, after a few metres, there is the Tabora traffic light to grab you again. If you scale that, the Kwashieman traffic light awaits you a few metres away with Barnyard trafffic light in the horizon after the Kwashieman. It is crazy and absolutely irrational. A stretch that should take about 3 minutes on an expresssway to navigate can easily take over 30 minutes because people will just not think!

  reply
• OPPONGKYEKYEKU 3 months ago

  Build a network of trams radiating North, East and West on dedicated lanes using the existing (useless) grassy medians and where neccesary one existing road lane, revive the Ayalolo-Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system and dedica ...
  read full comment

  Build a network of trams radiating North, East and West on dedicated lanes using the existing (useless) grassy medians and where neccesary one existing road lane, revive the Ayalolo-Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system and dedicate one lane to it (which the STC and Metro Mass busses can also use) and lastly run a real rail service between Accra and Nsawam and beyond and Accra and Tema-what we have at the moment is a joke!!!! In this way, public transport would become far more attractive....all the suggestions above are for private transport (I do not even classify trotros as public transport!!!!)

  reply
• Sayitlikeitis 3 months ago

  All done intentionally by enforcement authorities ..otherwise where will Ghana police and MTTU chop!

  All done intentionally by enforcement authorities ..otherwise where will Ghana police and MTTU chop!

  reply
• Kofi Boakye-Yiadom 3 months ago

  Great input on the forward match to decongest Accra traffic. Yao, what are missing from your article are:
  1. The urgent need for Bicycle Lanes.
  2. A no go Truck Area within Accra and Tema CBDs at a given time space.
  3. Th ...
  read full comment

  Great input on the forward match to decongest Accra traffic. Yao, what are missing from your article are:
  1. The urgent need for Bicycle Lanes.
  2. A no go Truck Area within Accra and Tema CBDs at a given time space.
  3. The need for Metro Lanes within a 20 Km radius space, interconnecting and intersecting each other within the CBD in Accra.
  4. That some government Ministries, Departments and Agencies should relocate out of the CBD.
  5. Tree planting along pedestrian routes should be encouraged and implemented within the city.

  reply
• How does the Country allow Hawkers to Take Over our Roadways 3 months ago

  Ghana has stopped conducting traffic studies at signalized intersections as well as traffic planning studies popularly called traffic census for transportation planning and other benefits across all road agencies. The green ...
  read full comment

  Ghana has stopped conducting traffic studies at signalized intersections as well as traffic planning studies popularly called traffic census for transportation planning and other benefits across all road agencies. The green time for most traffic lights at the TUC Jn, all the ones on the Kojo Thompson road etc are fixed time and not traffic actuated. The green time fixed say for 10 years ago for one leg remains the same for 24 hrs in a day regardless of peak hours for vehicles entering the city in the morning and out of the city during evening hours. Again the traffic bottlenecks are caused by traffic restrictions resulting from street hawking, occupation of traders on street pavements, service lanes, road islands, kerbs,, channels, roundabouts, medians etc.
  Indiscriminate siting of gas stations popularly called filling stations at major and minor road junctions is a major cause of congestion delays.
  Indiscriminate siting of loading bays, trotro and taxi stations at major junctions blocks any junction improvement works and will continue to hamper efficient traffic operations in our cities and across the nation. The key is to protect the ROW and tailor minor or major road interventions based on traffic studies and clearing the ROW of street hawkers, filling stations or structures that impeed the provision of slip roads at major and minor junctions..

  reply
• Yourm 3 months ago

  I urge the government to examine the road systems in some major Mexican cities, such as Mexico City and Guadalajara, and observe their multi-layered road networks that reduce traffic congestion. Our system in Ghana is more al ...
  read full comment

  I urge the government to examine the road systems in some major Mexican cities, such as Mexico City and Guadalajara, and observe their multi-layered road networks that reduce traffic congestion. Our system in Ghana is more aligned with European/American models, but the Mexican system replicates some transport strategies similar to ours. They have feeder side roads running parallel to the main double roads, which help manage stop-and-go traffic like Trotro without interfering with the smooth flow of traffic on the main roads. Implementing such a system would require significant infrastructural investment and the opening up of roadways, which might involve demolitions and relocations. However, if we want a system that truly works for us, I strongly believe the government should consider the Mexican road system.

  reply
• Yourm 3 months ago

  I urge the government to examine the road systems in some major Mexican cities, such as Mexico City and Guadalajara, and observe their multi-layered road networks that reduce traffic congestion. Our system in Ghana is more al ...
  read full comment

  I urge the government to examine the road systems in some major Mexican cities, such as Mexico City and Guadalajara, and observe their multi-layered road networks that reduce traffic congestion. Our system in Ghana is more aligned with European/American models, but the Mexican system replicates some transport strategies similar to ours. They have feeder side roads running parallel to the main double roads, which help manage stop-and-go traffic like Trotro without interfering with the smooth flow of traffic on the main roads. Implementing such a system would require significant infrastructural investment and the opening up of roadways, which might involve demolitions and relocations. However, if we want a system that truly works for us, I strongly believe the government should consider the Mexican road system.
  It's vital to implement such a system now rather than wait for our fast-growing cities like Accra, Kumasi, and Tamale to become unmanageable. We could even start with smaller cities like Ho, Dambai, Sunyani, etc., which still have some space, and see how useful such a system could be in bigger cities.

  reply