The new Achimota interchange near the Achimota Bus Terminal is rotting away with filth and neglect. For the past six months piles of garbage have been mounting on the pedestrian walkway, while metal bars placed on the road to make room for expansion and contraction in accordance with temperature changes are fast deteriorating.
The 800 metre-long bridge which connects Achimota to Legon, Dzorwulu and Abelenkpe is in dire need of attention and careful maintenance.
Sections of road crash barriers have been knocked off, and the situation poses a threat to pedestrians and motorists alike. Besides, there are gaping culverts in the pedestrian walkways.
The situation presents such grave danger as a lorry tyre has been placed on one of the culverts into which three days earlier a drunkard was said to have fallen and injured himself.
The interchange was part of the seven-kilometre six-lane Kwame Nkrumah Circle to Achimota section of the Accra-Kumasi highway project that was completed in 2005.
As part of that project, a number of add-ons, including a transport terminal near the Achimota School, several signalised inter-sections and a two-kilometre access road that leads to the industrial area at the Alajo Section were constructed.
Before the construction of the road, traffic hold-up was among the many frustrations motorists and commuters faced on the road.
Now, almost nine years after its completion, the interchange is losing the battle against wear and tear.
On the sides of the double carriageway, the metal bar that is put in place to aid expansion and contraction has worn out, exposing iron rods that are a danger and could contribute to tyre bursts.
For a very long time heaps of garbage continue to pile up on sections of the pedestrian walkway and the nauseating stench that emanates from the filth is such that pedestrians have to hold their noses as they walk past.
Those who try to hold their breath, more often than not, break into fits of sneezing.
Assembly member speaks
The Assembly member for the area, Mr James Akogo, told the Daily Graphic that Zoomlion was using the pavement as a refuse collection point before carting it away to the dump site.
He said even though the company had stopped the practice, some refuse collectors who went from home to home had turned the walkways into a refuse dump site, since the one at Achimota had been shut down.
“The problem now is with wee smokers. They have turned themselves into refuse collectors but dump the refuse at unapproved places such as the walkways under the cover of darkness. But we are working on it,” he said.
He said he had contacted the District Cleansing Officer who had agreed to lead in the effort to collect the refuse and post a notice there warning people to desist from the act of dumping refuse on the walkway.
“After we collect the refuse, a task force will be set up to deal with trespassers. I can assure you that we’re working on it,” he added.
Apart from the neglect, some traders have also turned the pedestrian walkway into a market where all sorts of items are sold, including roast plantain, shirts, shoes, chains and fruits.
The situation is no different under the overpass where traders have taken over the pavements and leave behind a lot of waste.
Some recalcitrant heavy-duty drivers also defy the five-tonne (5T) limitation sign which forbids vehicles carrying goods beyond the stipulated weight from using the road.
On a number of occasions, such vehicles have got stuck under the bridge. Sometimes it takes quite a number of hours to reduce the height of the goods on these vehicles before they are able to move on. Such situations end up causing massive traffic congestion that goes on for hours on end.
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