Traffic in Accra has reduced by 40% – AMA boss

• Posted on August 29, 2018
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

Metropolitan Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mohammed Adjei Sowah, has said the Assembly’s data shows that the traffic situation in Accra has improved “improved by 40 percent over the past couple of months.”

Speaking on Citi TV’s Face to Face, he said he was ready to release data backing this claim.

“Travel time within the city centre has reduced; I mean when you are coming in and going out, travel time has reduced drastically by 40 percent.”

Accra is noted for notorious traffic burdening commuters heading towards the central business district in the mornings and vice versa in the evenings.

In his 2018 State of the Nation Address, Nana Akufo-Addo said the traffic was making Accra unattractive.

President Akufo-Addo suggested that the government will construct more roads to connect with different parts of the country to reduce the journey times between towns and cities.

Though details are sparse, Mr. Adjei Sowah insisted that, “when you drive around town, we have our transport department with seasoned planners that focus more on traffic issues.”

He said improving the traffic situation was one one of things he had prioritized and his office has come out with a report on traffic management from 2011 to 2015, and the impact of traffic on life in Accra.

Pedestrian action plan

Mr. Adjei Sowah also said the assembly’s focus was on better managing human traffic with the implementation of a pedestrian action plan.

He noted the Lapaz intersection and the prevalence of pedestrian casualties, which stands at 16 percent of all casualties in Accra.

“Pedestrian crossing on the Lapaz intersection and the N1 is so high. Over 16,000 in an hour and over 200,000 within a 12 hour period on the N1 alone.”

With this in mind, he said the Assembly’s stance was that, “where human activity is concentrated, safety issues must be prioritized.”

Among other things, the Lapaz intersection is being redesigned “to make sure pedestrian crossing is done in a very safe manner.”

“We want to make sure that we have a pedestrian crossing sign, the traffic signals are changed, we need to make sure there are ramps that wheelchairs can cross.”

Source: CNR