Intersection of the intersection with the N1 and Lapaz highway to improve safety

General News of Saturday, January 19th, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-01-19

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) yesterday inaugurated development works at the Lapaz intersection of the United States. N1 highway to improve safety, especially for pedestrians.

The upgrade work included widening the median to the intersection, lowering the curbs (bricks of restraint) to make them suitable for people with disabilities, increasing the time pedestrian crossing from 18 to 41 seconds and the re-marking of intersections.

The WADA and BIGRS funded project aims to improve pedestrian mobility and reduce the number of pedestrian deaths at the intersection.

BIGRS is an international philanthropy focused on improving road safety in cities.

Commissioning

WADA President and CEO, Mr. Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah, met with reporters after inspecting the improvement works. The badembly also found that vehicle traffic in the area was much more attentive than pedestrian safety.

He said that a data collection exercise conducted by AMA-BIGRS teams last year had shown that there were about 203,661 pedestrian activities at the intersection, with vehicles traveling at speeds of 90 km to 120 km / h on the N1 road. .

"On average, 16,972 pedestrians were counted in one hour, which shows that measures must be put in place to protect the lives of these people," he said.

Reduction

Mr Sowah said that although the improvement work was a temporary measure, the number of road accident victims at the crossroads had dropped considerably since it was completed last month.

"The latest audit by the badembly clearly shows that Lapaz 's road accidents, which have recorded the highest number of road accidents in Accra, have been reduced thanks to the works of the city. improvement, "he said.

He added that the badembly would continue to work with the National Road Safety Commission and other organizations to improve the quality of life of the city's residents.

commuters

Some people at the Lapaz intersection said they were impressed by the improvements, but urged the Ghana Police Department's Transportation and Traffic Department (MTTD) to arrive at the intersection. Time to direct traffic to the intersection when the traffic lights were not working.

Mr. Osei Kuffour, coordinator of the AMA-BIGRS initiative, and Mr. Boye Laryea, general manager of the Okaikoi-North Municipal Assembly (MCE), expressed their willingness to collaborate with the authorities to reduce the number of road traffic deaths.