A few years ago, travelling from Accra to the western part of the country, especially to Kasoa, Cape Coast and beyond, was a nightmare. At that time, not only was the road from Mallam in Accra to Cape Coast in the Central Region narrow and in bad shape but also a major market at Kasoa seriously hindered the free movement of people to the town and beyond.
Many budget statements of our governments contained plans to construct the Mallam-Yamoransa Road. In the late 1999, the Japanese government pledged a grant for the construction of that road.
But when the NDC government lost power in 2000 and the Kufuor administration went HIPC, there were fears that the project would never materialise. Nonetheless, the Japanese government decided to fund the project, despite the decision of the Kufuor administration to go HIPC.
The construction of that portion of the road compounded the traffic situation. However, when the road was completed in 2007, and with the relocation of the market along the Kasoa-Bawjiase road, it was a pleasure to travel on the road.
However, some six years after its construction, traffic has again choked the road following the rapid development of Kasoa and beyond and the completion of the George Walker Bush Highway.
Vehicles now travel faster on the highway and from Mallam to Kasoa. Another reason assigned for the sudden traffic build-up on the road to Kasoa is the engineering design. After the traffic intersection from the old market portion, the three-lane road narrows into one, thereby slowing down the movement of vehicles.
Also, increased number of vehicles on the Nyanyano and Bawjiase roads has compounded the traffic congestion in the Kasoa town, which has a human population of about 163,000.
GROWTH and ACTIVITIES WITHIN KASOA
Furthermore, Kasoa, which used to be a small community, has grown into a city slum while other residential houses are being constructed towards Bawjiase in the north, Nyanyano in the south and Buduburam and Awutu Beraku to the west.
Apart from the Kasoa traffic, the tollbooths mounted at Tuba Junction contribute to the problem. The situation is not only resulting in the waste of productive man-hours, but having a toll on drivers and passengers physically and financially, as they have to spend more money to buy fuel and to board vehicles. Rush hours in the mornings and evenings are a nightmare for residents at Kasoa and beyond.
The town, noted for its commercial activities, previously experienced minimal traffic congestion on Tuesdays and Fridays, which are market days. These are days when farmers and traders alike bring their produce and goods for sale.
Indeed, population explosion following the construction of houses has opened up Kasoa and its environs. People have moved to areas such as Ngleshie Amanfrom and Iron City, which share borders with Kasoa. Areas developing fast in the municipality are New Town, American Town, Lawyer, Obom, Opeikuma, CP, Down Town, Akwele and Papasi.
With the movement of people and increase in trading activities, the town has witnessed a very fast development under a period of 10 years. The growth of the town has given it a municipal status.
It was previously under the Awutu-Efutu-Senya District Assembly, then moved to the Awutu Senya District Assembly and is now the capital of Awutu-Senya-East Municipality.
Statistics by the municipal assembly indicate that about 35 families move to Kasoa and beyond every week.
All of these have contributed to congestion in the town. The main traffic intersection near the old market has become the point where the traffic congestion is most serious. Indeed, the intersection is on the Nyanyano-Bawjiase Road and the Kasoa-Buduburam stretch.
TRAFFIC PERIODS
In the evenings between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., traffic builds up from mostly around Amanfrom toward the traffic lights. Traffic also builds up in the morning from around CP on the Winneba direction of the road between 5:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. As for the Bawjiase and Nyanyano portions, the traffic situation is terrible everyday and is unpredictable.
At the Tuba tollbooths too, the traffic builds up in the mornings as a result of vehicles coming in from Kasoa and its environs, and it is the same in the evenings. While the morning traffic sometimes stretches from the Galilea Market to the tollbooths, the evening one stretches as far as the Broadcasting area.
On Saturdays, travelling through the tollbooths and the Kasoa township in the morning is a problem.
The traffic builds up for about a mile or longer from the Broadcasting Junction to the tollbooth. It also stretches from the end of Galilea to the Kasoa town. In the evenings on Saturdays, the situation is vice versa.
It begins from Buduburam to the Kasoa traffic lights. Certainly, the situation is caused by travellers returning home from attending social events such as funerals and visits to students in Cape Coast schools.
RESIDENTS, DRIVERS, PASSENGERS FRUSTRATIONS
A resident of Kasoa, Mr Stephen Cofie, told the Daily Graphic that the traffic situation was a major problem for residents in and outside the municipality as it slowed down their movements.
�Using the Kasoa traffic intersection or town roads are not palatable at all. The worse aspect is that the traffic congestion is not predictable,� he said.
Mr Cofie said immediate steps or action would have to be taken to remedy the situation.
Another resident, Madam Efua Tandoh, said, �the traffic in the town is really affecting us.
�By the time you get to your house you are already stressed up. Mind you if you are going to an area where the road is bad, you would suffer more,� she said.
A commercial bus (trotro) driver, Issah Adams, who shuttles between Accra and Kasoa, said now drivers spent their money on fuel.
�Moreover, you have to pay toll anytime you pass through the tollbooths,� he said.
�When you close from work and you are going home to relax to replenish your energies for the next day, you go through one hell of a stress at the tollbooth and suffer another dose of stress at
Amanfrom through to Kasoa,� Mavis Arthur, a secretary said.
She described the situation as unacceptable and suggested the relocation of the tollbooths in between Buduburam and Winneba.
�I mean how can you be spending all your time in traffic everyday? In the morning it is hell, in the evening it is hell, why?� she queried, and called for immediate action to be taken to address the situation.
MUNICIPAL ASSEMBLY STEPS
The Awutu Senya East Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Adams Nuhu, admitted that traffic congestion in the municipality was a source of worry to all those who use the Kasoa town road.
He listed the road engineering, fast movement of vehicles from the N1 Highway and Odorkor and the absence of proper lorry parks for vehicles that commute between Kasoa and outside the town as the cause of the heavy traffic jams.
That notwithstanding, he said, some immediate measures had been taken to address the problem, They include developing ringroads around the town, thereby moving vehicle congestion from the traffic lights intersection.
�What we are doing is to develop roads outside the traffic lights area. This is because we don�t want all the vehicles to pass through the intersection,� he explained.
Mr Nuhu said as part of the measures, the Department of Urban Roads had awarded a contract for the construction of a ring road from Galilea through to Amanfrom, the Obom Road, New Market or Bawjiase Road, and Opeikuma to link the Winneba Road.
�With this when you pass the tollbooth from Accra you don�t have to drive through the Kasoa town to Winneba, Bawjiase or Swedru�.
Work, he said, had �already started and we are hoping that the road would be ready in 18 months�.
The MCE said there were also plans to construct another ring road from Fan Milk, near the main Winneba road towards CP, Estate, Nyanyano, and American Junction to Tuba.
This means that vehicles from the Buduburam end would not have to pass through the Kasoa traffic intersection. From Tuba one can drive straight to Accra without having to go through Kasoa.
Mr Nuhu said the project included the building of steel bridges on the Okrudu stream to link the ring roads.
He, therefore, appealed to users of the road to be patient as steps were being taken to address the problem.
POLICE MTTU ACTION
The Kasoa District Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) Commander, DSP William Gyamfi, told the Daily Graphic that having identified the problems, the district command constantly put more personnel on the roads to manage the situation.
�We have deployed men to areas we identify are responsible for the traffic�.
Moreover, he said, apart from directing traffic, the police, in collaboration with the municipal assembly, had demarcated certain areas as no parking and no-stopping zones.
DSP Gyamfi atributed the cause of the traffic congestion at Kasoa to technical, engineering and human factors.
For instance, he said, lorry parks, where vehicles entered and exited were dotted around the traffic light intersection.
Traffic congestion, he said, was caused when vehicles entered and exited those lorry parks.
DSP Gyamfi indicated that while there were many vehicles that commuted between the town and nearby developing areas, �the lorry parks are fewer than can accommodate these vehicles�.
�We are trying our best to secure the road and we will need the support and co-operation of everyone to do this. People should bear with us,� he said, and warned that drivers who did not comply with police instructions would be arrested and sent to court.
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