Four footbridges will be constructed on the N1 highway - MIDA

Four more foot bridges will be constructed on the George Walker Bush Highway to curb the accident situations on the road.

In the wake of recent occurrences on the George Walker Bush Highway, the Millennium Development Authority (MIDA) has indicated that it will soon build footbridges to ensure that commuters and pedestrians safely ply the N1 highway.

Two persons were involved in a brutal accident last Sunday on the N1 highway, with an eight year old girl also knocked down yesterday by a BMW saloon car at lapaz while crossing the road.

Over 70 lives have been claimed on the highway since the road was commissioned in February, 2012.

This week's incident in which an eight year old pupil died on the spot when knocked down by a BMW saloon car called for strict measures to be undertaken in order to bring the situation under the control.

Residents at the area yesterday mounted roadblocks in protest against the recent happenings.

They called on state authorities to set up an overpass on the highway to ensure the safety of the commuters.

They heavily criticized the authorities for responding lackadaisically to their plight and therefore appealed to them to remedy the situation.

MIDA, the authority which supervised the construction of the 14-kilometre stretch of the N1 highway says it will soon commence work on the highway but is waiting for government's approval to set up the foot bridges.

The Transport and Agriculture Manager of the Authority, Dr. Bernard Koranteng speaking to Citi FM noted that the N1 highway should have had “eight or so interchanges on this road…at Awoshie, Kwashieman, Nyamekye, Lapaz, and another one at Dzorwulu and if you look at it, there were five interchanges that we should have added to the present interchange at Dimples and Mallam but because of the funding constraint, we selected the two critical interchanges.”

He further said that the current positioning of the footbridges on the highway is because five other interchanges are supposed to be constructed on the road.

He stated that the yet-to-be constructed interchanges informed the authority's decision to position the footbridges where they are currently.

He further explained that “when we opened the road, we realized that the crossing at Lapaz so heavy and therefore, there will be the need for some temporal measures so we made a submission to government with respect to putting some steel bridges that we could use temporarily so that in future, when we are about to build the permanent interchange at Lapaz, we will then remove those steel bridges,” therefore stressing that the authority did not fault in its duties.

From: Adu Gyamfi Ameyaw