Major traffic lights down; Threaten lives of motorists, pedestrians
Traffic lights on some major roads in Accra, Sekondi/Takoradi, Kumasi and Tamale are either malfunctioning or not totally working, leaving motorists and pedestrians vulnerable to road accidents and knockdowns.
In Accra as many as 17 traffic lights on eight major routes in Accra were found not to be working or were malfunctioning.
Advertisement
During an inspection of some of the traffic lights in the national capital last week and yesterday, the Daily Graphic observed that while there were single traffic lights on some routes, the devices were not working at all at some intersections in some other places.
Some of the lights have not been working for periods ranging from two days to as long as a year.
Urban Roads
But the Department of Urban Roads (DUR) told the Daily Graphic that the problems with the traffic lights varied from temporary challenges such as power trips/surges, light off, the stealing of cables to the dumping of refuse into the controllers.
The routes
Most of the traffic lights which were not working were not powered by solar which the DUR under the Ministry of Roads and Highways began rolling out in 2014.
The traffic lights which were not working included the one at the intersection on the Graphic Road, heading towards Adabraka and Kaneshie and the one close to the Graphic Press, heading towards the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
At the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, the traffic lights after Mr Biggs Restaurant and those near the Orion Cinema were not functioning well, a situation which created confusion for motorists and pedestrians, for which reason the police had to intervene to deal with the situation.
The same applied to the traffic lights on the Kwame Nkrumah Avenue, near GLICO/Farisco at Adabraka, Mobil Bus Stop, near the King Tackie Tawiah Overpass at Kanda and the Gold Coast Securities Office, near the Ako Adjei Interchange on the Ring Road.
At the Achimota New Station Shell, the traffic lights directing traffic towards Abofu, the Achimota-Nsawam Road and the Achimota Forest were all off during the weekend.
Similar observations were made of the traffic lights at the ATTC Junction, near the SG Bank, and the one near the Elizabethan Building, close to the defunct Shangrila Hotel on the Liberation Road in Accra.
Similarly, the traffic lights at the Dansoman Junction, near the Mataheko J.T. Cluster of Schools, were off.
At the Kawukudi Junction, all the traffic lights were working, except the one guiding motorists towards the Airport Residential Area which was off.
The same was the story for two traffic lights at the La T-Junction which were leading motorists to Teshie and the La Beach Road.
At the Palm Wine Junction at La, the amber light was blinking simultaneously, which nearly resulted in two vehicles colliding with each other.
On some of the roads where some of the traffic lights were malfunctioning, the gridlock was compounded because there were no policemen to control traffic flow at some intersections.
At the Mataheko and Dansoman Junction, residents told the Daily Graphic that the traffic lights had been off for more than two months.
Department of Urban Roads
When contacted, the DUR Engineer in charge of Development and Traffic, Nana Kwame-Fori Obuobi, said in the case of the traffic lights at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, a sub-contractor who installed the gadgets during the construction of interchange had been contracted to remedy the situation.
In the case of the Graphic Road traffic lights, he said there was a temporary power problem that would be fixed before the end of next week, while the one directing traffic to COCOBOD/Kantamanto had a problem with power source.
Nana Obuobi said the DUR was holding discussions with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to find a solution to the problem.
For the traffic lights at the ATTC, the Elizabethan Building, the Castle Road (Kojo Thompson and Castle Road Intersection not far from Champion), the problem had to do with power challenges.
In the case of those at the Mobil Bus Stop and the Achimota New Station Shell, he said the department had received approval to completely replace the system with LED traffic lights and upgrade the controller because it was more than 20 years old.
He said a major problem for Accra had been people vandalising the controllers and stealing voltaic stabilisers and cables to sell.
He accused some residents of Nima and Maamobi of throwing refuse into the controllers, thereby inviting rats to chew the cables at the traffic lights at Kawukudi, while others had either vandalised or stolen the cables.
Solar traffic lights
According to the DUR, in total, there are 239 intersections with traffic lights in the city. Out of the number, there are 31 solar-powered intersections under maintenance, with total intersections, including those still under defect liability, standing at 72.
The traffic lights are managed by three companies — Facol Roads, 36; Signal and Controllers, 43 and Angel Data, 92 — with the rest being under warranty.
In 2014, the DUR rolled out a project to power traffic lights in the city with solar energy.
Such a move became necessary because it wanted to eliminate chaos at road intersections in the city, often caused by power outages.
Nana Obuobi said currently 31 intersections, including Achimota Neoplan, the Nationalist Park, the American House, Kawukudi Junction, the Flagstaff House and the Fiesta Royale Hotel, were being run on solar power.
The DUR engaged a local contractor, A2Z, to install the traffic light panels and batteries for the six intersections and intends to do same for the traffic lights on the George Walker Bush Highway (N1 Highway).
Sekondi/Takoradi
From Sekondi-Takoradi, Dotsey Kwablah Akrobortu reports that most of the traffic lights on major roads in the twin city are not working.
In the absence of the traffic lights, the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service controls traffic in the Western Regional capital.
Tamale
From Tamale, Samuel Duodu reports that the authorities of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TaMA) have begun fixing all broken down traffic lights to reduce road crashes in the metropolis.
Work on some traffic lights began two weeks ago, after a task force formed by the assembly had identified all traffic lights that had broken down and left unattended to over the years.
The task force had also identified some specific areas where there were no traffic lights, leading to incessant road crashes.
Residents
Some residents told the Daily Graphic that the fixing of the traffic lights had brought a big relief to residents of the metropolis.
Kumasi
In Kumasi, with the exception of few traffic lights that have broken down, most of them are in good condition, reports Kwadwo Baffoe Donkor.
There are other traffic lights which are not working because of erratic power supply in the regional capital.
In areas where traffic lights are not working, personnel from the MTTD have been on hand to direct traffic.
During a visit to some streets in the city yesterday, the Daily Graphic observed that at the Asafo Interchange, one traffic light on the right side of the road leading to the Ashanti Regional Office of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) had been knocked down by vehicles.