People and Places: Tema Motorway Interchange
THE Tema Motorway Interchange, located on the National Number One (N1) Highway at the Tema end of the Accra-Tema Motorway, serves as a connecting point for the Accra-Tema Motorway, Aflao Road, Akosombo Road and Tema Harbour Road.
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The interchange was constructed to replace the Tema Motorway roundabout to ease traffic on the Accra-Aflao Highway and the Tema Akosombo Road, which intercept each other at that point. It is described as a type of diverging diamond interchange.
A diverging diamond interchange (DDI), also called a double crossover diamond interchange (DCD), is a novel way of managing traffic at highway exits and entrances.
It uses crossovers to switch the direction of traffic on the bridge, allowing left turns without crossing oncoming lanes.
This helps to reduce congestion, delays and crashes by simplifying signal phases and eliminating conflict points.
Background
Construction of the interchange at the intersection of the Accra-Tema Motorway forms part of the government’s international corridor road improvement project aimed at ensuring efficiency in trade within the West African sub-region.
This was to eliminate the unusual vehicular traffic congestion at the Tema end of the Accra-TemaMotorway.
The Motorway is a 19-kilometre portion of the N1 Highway that links Accra, the capital city of Ghana, to the industrial city of Tema.
It was opened to traffic in November 1965 under the administration of Ghana's first president, Osagyefo Dr
Kwame Nkrumah.
In July 2018, a sod was cut for work to begin on the conversion of the roundabout into an interchange. This followed an earlier expansion and upgrading works on the roundabout in 2016, after about five decades of its construction.
The project, which lasted for 28 months, was financed with a grant secured from the Japanese government and undertaken by a Japanese construction firm, Messrs Shimizu Dai-Nippon.
It comprises a two-tier intersection, a tunnel in the east-west direction, four kilometres of improved roads, four pedestrian bridges -one a each approach to the intersection- and the construction of several drainage structures.
It was officially opened to traffic on June 5, 2020.
