Motorists heaved a sigh of relief when the portion of the Accra-Tema Motorway blocked for maintenance works was opened to traffic at 6:00a.m. Friday morning, as promised by Mr. Akwesi Amoako-Atta, the Minister of Road and Highways.
According to them, the stress they had to endure for the past four days would not be forgotten, “It had not been easy, especially Monday morning when for almost four hours a single vehicle could not move on the Tema-Accra bound section, something that had never occurred before, but all the same we have to be grateful to Government for rectifying the problem.”
A commercial vehicle driver Jones Ofori who showered praises on Mr. Amoako-Atta and described him as “Mr. Do All” said he had to change his route from Ashiaman-Accra to Tema-Accra using the beach road in order to account for his daily sales.
Mr. Jojo Nkansah, who works at one of the ministries, urged the government to address other concerns with such urgency to give the citizenry that level of confidence that their concerns would always be addressed with the urgency it deserves.
A tipper truck driver Uncle Ebow said he was forced to cancel all contracts for that day because, as of 10:00 a.m., he could not even deliver one load of gravel which had caused him a lot, and therefore urged the ministry to put in place alternative measures before the start of the motorway reconstruction project.
The Tema -Accra bound section of the bridge over the Lakplakpa stream in the Tema East Constituency in the Greater Accra Region was closed to traffic for routine maintenance works last week Monday, following the detection that the metals under the bridge had become rusty and must be replaced to avoid its total collapse.
The Minister, therefore, ordered its closure and directed that the bridge be immediately repaired and gave the contractor two weeks to complete the work.
But the closure caused a heavy traffic jam from Monday to Thursday as commuters had to spend hours in the traffic before traversing the motorway.
Public outcry at the inconvenience suffered by motorists informed engineers and officials of the ministry about changing the scheduled completion from two weeks to five days.
Mr. Amoako-Atta, after inspecting the completed works Friday morning, commended the Bridge Maintenance Unit of the GHA for working round the clock to bring total relief to motorists.
He was accompanied by the Chief Director of the Ministry, Alhaji Awullo Abassand, and other directors from the Feeder and Urban Roads.
He commended the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service for the maximum support that ensured total security of the construction workers for those stressful four days.
Source: ghanaiantimes
