Faces of frustration: No end in sight for traffic agony faced by motorists using Tema Motorway roundabout.

Cities are essential parts of world economic engines and the better and bigger the roads, the quicker the flow of traffic which impacts positively on productivity. So when the construction of a road leaves motorists stuck in traffic for more than three hours on daily basis, then there is a bigger problem. That is the frustration road users who ply the roundabout end of the Tema Motorway (Akosombo and Harbour ends) go through.

The Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) in April announced it was commencing the second phase of the construction to open the road up for motorists and will last for three months.  The authority at the time appealed to the public to comply with diversion signs provided to ensure effective work and passage.

Work is steadily progressing, but not to the satisfaction of motorist.

But works on the ground is moving at a snail pace and the situation has created anxiety among most motorists who ply the road on daily basis, especially as the given timeline approaches. Some motorists who spoke to Prime News Ghana during an observation visit to the site say they are no longer able to contain the delay, since it is impacting their livelihoods.

“How do you expect me to make money when I have to sit in traffic for almost two hours,” an angry Agya Yaw, a commercial bus driver from Akosombo to Accra asked. “Why do we do this to ourselves in this country, why?”

Other road users who disclosed they have been enduring the situation since the exercise started want an immediate completion of the work, or an alternative route created for them to ease their burden.

It has become regular for motorist to spend as much as three hours in the jam

“I have to wake my children up (between 8 and 10) around 4:30am everyday so they can get ready for school,” another frustrated motorist said. “We were told the situation will be resolved but how long are we to endure this, my brother, how long?”

Engineers on the site supervising the work refused to answer questions when they were reminded about their own three month deadline to complete the project, though earth moving machines were being operated by the workers.