The Abandoned Foot Bridge On Madina-Adenta Road

The horrific, devastating journey from Gomoa Mpota junction to Nsawam Ofankor road has landed at Madina Adenta Road. On records, Gomoa Mpota junction recorded six people dead while Nsawam Ofankor also saw three people feared dead. The killing of a female student on the Madina-Adenta Highway in the Greater Accra region, has triggered fresh outrage and resulted in angry residents setting tyres ablaze to show their concerned of the unfixed bridge.

The chanting of “No more deaths” by the youth and residents had now become the ringing bell at Madina Adenta.When such incidents happen; there are many questions I ask myself. What a horrific scene at the Madina Adenta foot bridge? What needless pains are the people in living in Madina Adenta road bearing? Are residents enemies to the ministry of roads and highways? What message are we given to the entire world for an uncompleted foot bridge for almost eight years. Why was the bridge not completed? Are there outstanding contract cost?

Let me quickly extend my condolences to all bereaved family, friends who had lost their loved ones with the sayings by the hymnologist Philip Paul Bliss ’’It is well with my soul”

Road safety had become a growing menace facing pedestrians resulting in accidents.

The Madina Adenta road had been one of the busy roads in the north-eastern part of Accra to the capital and the western parts of the country through the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange.

The road used by motorists and residents poses a daily danger to lives which need an immediate response to the challenge. There are daily struggles of motorists and pedestrians alike using the road due to the uncompleted foot bridge.

The abandoned foot bridge had been used for posting of pictures of politician. The uncompleted foot bridge had become the centre of display of all political parties’ banners and posters. The bridge had become a popularity centre of display of posters. Does the display send a signal of which political party going to fix the bridge?

My first time of crossing the road was in 2014 when I had gone to the Madina Tigo office to replace my lost chip. Crossing the road became very difficult. I hardly saw any safety preventive measures on the road. It took me more than four minutes to cross the road to the otherside.I was really frustrated and asked myself how can Ghana get there?

Another observation well noted was that, only at night time pedestrians find ease in crossing the Madina Adenta Road due to the number of the traffic reduction. The difficulty faced by pedestrians includes the insufficient lighting facilities and unwanted incident occurring (such as, hijacking) due to the lack of security personnel.

Field observation study on Pedestrian Perception On the Usage of Road crossing suggests that the maintenance of roadside barrier and median barrier should be improved to separate

Pedestrian movements from vehicular traffic and to encourage pedestrians to use road crossing facilities. Also there are other sectors which should be improved such as: pedestrian awareness, social awareness, design improvement etc.

As Ghanaian waits in patient for the completion of the bridge, The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako Atta should take the following into account;

Foot over bridge should be accessible very easily. It means the entrance should be wide enough and convenient approach to facilities so that pedestrians can use it without discomfort and

hindrance. Foot over bridge should be free from all kinds of commercial and illegal activities. Such as: it should be free from hawkers, beggars, prostitutes etc. Billboard and advertisement should be banned in foot over bridge.

Lighting facilities should be increased so that pedestrians can use the facilities at night without hesitation and discomfort.

Also National Commission for Civic Education should make Public awareness campaign. Our roads should be filled with enough road safety variable message sign c to warn the pedestrians about the bad impact of not using road bridges.

This is not the time to point hands at each other or blame each other. This is the time to come up with a solution on how our foot bridges will be fixed for pedestrian. If pedestrian are finding difficult to cross the road, the question is what about the beneficiaries (disabled).