In efforts to ease vehicular traffic on our roads, the Minister for Raods and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta on Friday commissioned two traffic intersections under the second phase of Accra Intelligent Traffic Management System (AITMS).
These two Signal Intersections Systems, are installed at the Kanda Highway/Castle Road and Starlet 19/Nationalism road,Accra.
Speaking to the press during the inspection in the presence of the Commercial Consular of the Chinese Embassy, Mr Amoako-Atta, Friday indicated that, the new system have infix mechanism to detect and manage congestion to ease vehicular traffic flow.
The system he noted would operate on enhanced solar power traffic control system, traffic flow guidance, violation detection, smart checkpoint, road signs and markings.
Explaining that, the two newly installed signals are part of the 253 traffic intersections being funded jointly by the Government of Ghana and China.
The AITMS project according to Mr. Amoako-Atta is one of the many steps government is taking to ensure free flow of vehicular traffic as the number of vehicles increases as well as enhance the key sectors of the economy.
The statistics from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) he noted shows that, vehicular growth rate in Accra between 2015 and 2018 was between 12 and 15 per cent, which put pressure on the existing road infrastructure.
Therefore to ease the pressure on our roads, the Roads and Highways Minister revealed that, AITMS would soon commence on areas including High Street/Laterbiokoshie, Ring Road, Graphic-Winneba, Central Business District, Beach Road/Giffard/ Obanasnjo Road, Spintex and George Walker Bush Highway.
Personnel of the Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate of the Ghana Police Service he emphasized would not be required to direct vehicular traffic after the. Completion of the project unless an emergency occurs or a systematic failure is experienced.
Speaking further, he acknowledged that, all the traffic lights would be hooked to the central control room after the completion of the second phase of the project, adding these traffic lights would be under surveillance of 24 hours with technical officials ready to fix any fault.
To ensure safety on these roads, secret cameras would also be fixed at the various traffic intersections to monitor recalcitrant motorists who would jump red lights.
“Those who would be arrested would face the law and if convicted and fined to serve as a deterrent to others”, he stressed.
Therefore, Mr Amoako-Atta appealed to all road users to comply with the road traffic regulations and protect the heavy investment made in constructing the facility to ensure value for money and improve productivity.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com/ Ishmael Barfi/ senghana@gmail.com
