Spintex road is a mess
Last Thursday was my worse day ever in traffic since leaving Tema barely six years ago. And where else could it have been? It was on the long lawless stretch of road that has come to be known as Spintex Road. Call it a hotchpotch and you would not be far from it.
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In trying to dodge the Accra-Tema Motorway, my wise counsel prompted me to go on a parallel road and so I ended up going through the Spintex Road. It was a nightmarish experience.
Whoever decided to hold hundreds of motorists who use the Accra-Tema Motorway on daily basis to ransom with such major repairs on the bridge during working hours should be brought to book. They did not consider the needs and sensitivities of users in their calculations.
Do we care about productivity and the preciousness of time and do we calculate how such unilateral decisions could take a heavy toll on businesses and other commitments? At the end of the five or so weeks when the repair works on the motorway are completed, somebody should do a research into the time and productivity losses and I bet we will all be amazed at the results.
A journey from one end of the motorway to the other, which normally would take less than 30 minutes, last Thursday took me painful and irritating long hours. I, therefore, swore not to use the same route on my return journey to Accra. The alternative I selected was the Spintex Road where a lot of people had apparently selected as well. I cursed myself.
Though a tiresome journey, my eyes opened up with the clutter I was seeing. As an alternate route to the busy harbour and industrial city, what has come to be known as the Spintex Road is a mess; a pitiful and abandoned road by whichever authorities. The endless traffic situation and the confusion at intersections, all exacerbated by the insensitive repair works on the Accra-Tema Motorway, are the first to hit you.
But mine, the unsightly structures that have lined up the entire stretch, the petty trading going on there as if it was a street market, the second-hand clothes, shoes and bags spread out for business right by the road side are an eyesore on such a major road. Yet, this is a road that is home to big businesses, from banks to industries, hotels to food joints, shops small and large shops to fuel stations, places of worship and plush residential homes.
All these businesses and home owners are surely paying fat sums as property rates to the city authorities, be it Accra or Tema. A lot more are paying income tax. So why the neglect? Why are the authorities not helping to bring some orderliness needed on that stretch?
Spintex Road is a very strategic route linking not only Tema to the capital, but many suburbs including Teshie, Nungua, Legon, East Legon and their environs. Does that matter to our city planners? And why have the city authorities taken their eyes off that road and left it to degenerate into the chaos that it is in currently?
Perhaps, when it started, no one took notice of the rate at which that road was going down hill. With time, as the businesses sited on that stretch began to take root and regular commuting increased, did it not sound a bell to anyone to quicken development and bring orderliness in the area, particularly from the Regimanuel Junction down to the Sakumono Junction?
Now that we know the strategic role this road plays in our economy, is it not time for the authorities to move in and arrest the deterioration? No doubt considering the rate it has reached, bringing decency to the Spintex Road and claiming sanity may mean drastic measures such as pulling down all the unlawful structures and banning the sale of wares.
The Spintex Road is one good and viable alternative to the Accra-Tema Motorway. There are a few more off the Spintex Road as I discovered. Surely, it must be of concern to the Roads and Highways Authority, as well as the city authorities to fix these alternative routes between the capital and the harbour city in order to reduce the stress, as well as the wear and tear on the Accra-Tema Motorway.
Last Thursday, I discovered for the first time that there were a few side roads that could be used to divert traffic from the build up on the main Spintex Road. I used one of those diversions and found it quicker, taking at least one hour off my journey should I have remained in the snail-paced traffic from the Community 18 Junction. The only regret is that those by-passes are bumpy and very dusty. But again, the question is why the alternative roads have not been done by now to reduce traffic flow on the Spintex Road?
For a road this busy and serving various business and communities, it must have a “scheduled” officer whose daily duties should include making that road passable and in decent shape. As it is, the Spintex Road has been badly exposed. Residents and businesses need a better deal than the mishmash they face on daily basis.