[ 2012-09-20 ]

NRSC team inspects Nsawam bypass to improve its road safety
Officials from the National Road Safety Commission
(NRSC) on Wednesday toured the Nsawam bypass to
inspect and recommend facilities that could be
installed to improve safety on portions of the 9.3
kilometre stretch of road.

The Accra-Nsawam dual carriage by-pass though not
yet handed over to the Ghana Highways Authority
(GHA) is unofficially opened to motorist and had
recorded rapid road crashes that had claimed the
lives of more than 10 people.

The inspection team advised that appropriate road
signs needed to be installed to improve safety on
the highway.

Other recommendations by the team were the
construction of enough foot bridges (which is
currently non-existent), appropriate rest stops
for bread sellers to ply their trade, and the
leveling of a steep portion of the road especially
at Sekyikrom, a condition that had contributed
towards road crashes.

Mr Noble Appiah, Executive Director at the NRSC,
who led the inspection team to the office of Mark
Amoako Dompreh, the Municipal Chief Executive,
after the tour on the highway, said the
recommendations were temporary measures that could
be implemented to prevent road crashes on some
identifiable spots.

The team was made up of some officials from the
Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the
Ghana Police Service, Ghana Highways Authority
(GHA) and the Akuapem South District Assembly.

Copies of the National Road Safety Strategy and
road safety guidelines were presented to Mr
Dompreh who pledged to assist in removing some of
the “death traps”, especially heaps of sand,
stones and debris on the road at Doboro junction.

On the construction of appropriate rest stop for
bread sellers, he expressed dissatisfaction that
the previous New Patriotic Party administration
did not factor that in the blue-print and
agreement with the construction firm.

Mr Dompreh said he was still in consultation with
the Ministry of Roads and Highways for the rapid
creation of the rest stop on a 40-acre land
earmarked for the project.

Madam May Obiri-Yeboah, Director of Planning and
Programming at the NRSC, called on the media to
give road safety campaign a priority in their
reportage especially in the run up to the December
polls to help reduce road crashes.

The Nsawam bypass stretches from the
Ofankor-Nsawam dual carriageway and ends at
Kwafokrom on the outskirts of Nsawam.

The project, which is funded by the African
Development Bank and the Government, is being
constructed by the Messrs China Railway
Engineering (Wuju) Corporation.

DSP Samuel Ntosoh, the Nsawam Municipal MTTU
Commander, said four spots on the bypass had thus
far been identified as accident-prone areas and
these include Doboro, Sekyikrom, Adoagyiri and
Okanta.

He said the Okanta junction was the worst hit
spot, recording a greater number of road crashes
than the other three in recent times.

Source - GNA

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