As part of efforts to ease motor traffic congestion at the Tema Motorway Roundabout due to the ongoing construction works, Shimizu-Dai Nippon Joint Ventures, contractors of the project, has instituted a traffic management plan to deal with the situation.
The contractors had constructed detour roads and created emergency alternative routes within and around the project site to ensure free flow of vehicular traffic and to enhance socio-economic activities in the Tema industrial enclave and its surrounding communities.
At a media briefing to outline the traffic management plan of the Tema Motorway Interchange project, Mr Joseph Yeboah, Chief Engineer at the Ghana Highway Authority and Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr Paul Bruce Amoah, Second-in-Command of the Tema Regional Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, took turns to explain to journalists measures instituted to ensure free flow of traffic.
Mr Yeboah, who is also the Project Coordinator, said the detour roads would be opened to the motoring public on Sunday, August 26, and there would be directional signs to direct motorists on the appropriate route to use.
He said the Authority would also design animation, which would complement the public education efforts, while traffic wardens from the MTTD would be available to direct traffic. Additionally, the contractors had created pedestrian walkways, ramps and staircases for both able bodied and physically-challenged persons to ensure free movement around the project site.
The project site had also been fenced to prevent the construction works from interfering with other people’s socio-economic activities, while measures had been put in place to avert any environmental pollution.
Mr Yeboah said: “We have sensitised the public for the past weeks, including the members of the GPRTU, the Police and other stakeholders to ensure smooth implementation of the project”.
ASP Amoah, on his part, said the Tema MTTD Command would deploy about 20 personnel on daily basis to direct traffic at the various intersections of the detour roads until the completion of the project.
There are also alternative routes from Motorway-Akosombo, Akosombo-Aflao and Aflao-Ashiaman. The contract agreement for the project was signed on December 15, 2017, while actual work started on February 7, 2018.
It is expected to be completed on June 6, 2020.
The project is intended to improve the capacity of the Tema roundabout and its adjoining surroundings to enhance safety and efficiency of transportation and the provision of uninterrupted traffic flow to facilitate trade and transit activities to land locked countries like Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in the West Africa sub-region.
The Tema Motorway Roundabout would be converted into an interchange and extended for some 500 metres from the roundabout to the Ashaiman Timber Market Roundabout, 400 metres along the Aflao road, 300 metres towards the Tema Harbour and about 300 metres to join the main Tema-Accra Motorway.
There would be an underpass on the Tema-Aflao stretch of the roundabout, while the capacity of the slip roads near the roundabout would be improved to ensure uninterrupted traffic flow.
The project falls under the West African Corridor Development Growth Ring Master Plan implementation, being executed by Messrs Shimizu-Dai Nippon Joint Venture (SDJV), with CTI Engineering International Co. Ltd as consultants.
The Japanese Government, through the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), provided US$57 million grant to the government of Ghana towards the redesign and re-construction of the Tema Roundabout into a three-tier single point diamond interchange. The interchange, upon completion, would serve three assemblies including Kpone Katamanso and Ashaiman municipalities as well as Tema metropolis in the Greater Accra Region.
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