The Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) is mounting new bollards at all unapproved U-turns on the Accra-Tema motorway.
This is to help prevent unapproved turns on the motorway which sometimes leads to preventable accidents.
On Monday morning [September 14, 2020], Graphic Online observed contractors busily mounting the bollards especially close to the Accra section of the motorway.
Some of the areas the contractors were working were near the toll booth at the Accra section and from the Trasacco Valley stretch, through the block factory area and behind the East Legon Police station all the way to the Accra Mall area at the Tetteh Quashie Interchange.
Read also: Squatters turn Tema Motorway into refuse dump
Charles Ampofo’s New
This is not the first time the unapproved u-turns on the motorway have been blocked.
In the past, anytime such unapproved turns have been blocked, motorists create new turns.
There have been times the GHA has used boulders to block the turns but, new tuns were created afterwards.
Charles Ampofo’s New
Scandal
A typical example is at the Community 18 junction where a new u-turn has been created.
There are a number of squatters along the motorway and so a number of footpaths have been created in the median.
Motor riders normally start using these u-turns and with time, they widen up to become possible for vehicles to also use it.
The Bureau of Public Safety (BPS) for instance last year counted about 45 unapproved access roads linking the motorway and called on the Ministry of Transport to fence them.
According to the BPS, until that was done, the Accra-Tema Motorway will continue to lose its essence of being called a motorway.
The BPS said it observed that 19-kilometre stretch had 45 unauthorised U-turns out of which some 24 have a semblance of blockade while remaining 21 U-turns have been effectively created and frequently used by cars, mini-buses (trotros), tricycles and motorcycles and that the danger the situation creates for other road users should not be overlooked.
It said it identified 28 access points on the Tema to Accra stretch, six out of which access points were either restricted or completely blocked.
The research also found that the Accra to Tema carriageway had 23 access points with four of them either blocked or restricted, and that the description on the route is generally poor, and in some cases completely nonexistent.
This, according to BPS, impacts negatively on driver performance under rainy, foggy, nightly and other poor visibility weather conditions.
“While we observed most commercial drivers literally soliciting for passengers as they ply the 100km/hr limit route, we discovered 14 major stop/pick up points along both sides of the dual carriageway. This practice causes abrupt obstructions with a high potential of causing multiple traffic crashes with its (sic) attendant fatal consequences,” it stated.
It further stated that slow-moving traffic had become the norm as most heavy-duty trucks and trailers, tricycles and other slow-moving vehicles take to the speed lane, thereby restricting able vehicles from overtaking them.
The report says this posed hazard to the vehicle obstructing traffic flow, the other vehicles and unsuspecting pedestrians.
“Furthermore, some vehicles (especially cars, tricycles and motorcycles) travel counter-traffic for distances between 100 to 300 metres to negotiate U-tums or exit the motorway, “this practice poses great danger for oncoming traffic, especially at night
