Redesign Accra-Tema Motorway-MPs

Members of Parliament (MP) have tasked the road agencies to take an immediate look at the Accra-Tema Motorway and redesign the facility to serve Tema and the various settlements along the road.

According to the MPs, the facility which was constructed in the 1960s needed to be expanded to incorporate new realities, which included the emergence of settlements along both sides of the motorway.

The MPs said this when they associated themselves with a statement made on the floor of the House on Wednesday by the MP for Ofoase/Ayirebi, Mr Oppon Kusi.

They claimed that the prevailing situation compelled motorists resident along the motorway to travel to Ashaiman before joining the main road to Accra.

That situation, the MPs contended, consumed time and often exposed motorists and pedestrians to great danger, which often resulted in fatalities.

In his statement, the MP for Ofoase/Ayirebi said the dual carriageway was constructed as a special facility to link the Port of Tema to Accra and provide free transit for goods to and from Tema.

He said at that time, the two cities were completely separate settlements, stressing that “today, the motorway can no longer function as a special facility and we need to face that practical reality so that the authorities will be encouraged to modify the design of the road to allow it not only to serve the ports and factories but also the corridor within which the road lies”.

Mr Oppon-Kusi noted that the current emotional discussions on maintaining the road within the confines of its original objectives only frustrated its managers.

He said he had been prompted to bring up the issue of the dual carriageway so that public discussions would be moved from the “narrow confines” which were more of an emotional attachment to an old motorway than an assessment of the practical realities of the current land use patterns.

“The Trasacco saga is more about our emotions than about practical engineering. The road, as it is now, has very few safety measures and practically no speed limits. It is used by a mixture of swift new cars, old rickety trotros, heavily-loaded vehicles and even tractors, not to mention pedestrians who have to cross the road at great risk from speeding vehicles,” he said.

Mr Oppon-Kusi tasked the road agencies to take a second look at the motorway and redesign the facility to serve the general needs of the people.