The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) together with Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) are set to begin Road safety enhancement works at the Lapaz intersection popularly known as the N1 Highway on the 17th of September, 2018.

With support from the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) and the Department of Urban Roads (DUR), the enhancement works would include increasing pedestrian signal timing, lowering kerbs at places where pedestrians cross, remarking pedestrian crossings and other pavement markings, narrowing of lane widths, widening of the median refuge and the replacement of damaged signals and crash barriers.

This intervention follows safety inspections carried out by the AMA and BIGRS on the N1 highway and are part of efforts to enhance pedestrian road safety and improve safety of other road users at the intersection, is expected to be completed within 68 working days.

According to the AMA road safety report, 13,059 road crashes occurred in the Accra Metropolitan Area between 2011 and 2015. As a result, 2,934 individuals were seriously injured and 909 died. Almost 90% of road fatalities in the observation were pedestrians and other vulnerable road users with Pedestrians constituting 70% of all fertilities while motorists and bicyclists constituted 14% and 2% respectively.

It was also realized that about 60% of road crashes on the major highways in the Accra Metropolitan Area were recorded on the N1 Highway hence the need to improve road safety at that intersection.

The AMA therefore urges all road users commuting through the N1 Highway and its immediate surroundings to bear with the authorities for any inconvenience it may cause.