President Muhammadu Buhari is once again being expected in Imo State to commission some roads built by Gov. Hope Uzodimma. The roads are Owerri-Orlu and Owerri- Okigwe, roads that Rochas Okorocha’s administration spent all of its life building, yet left them as bumpy as his two tenures.
When Gov. Hope Uzodimma appeared on the scene, he took up the two hazardous roads and turned them around. In less than two years, users of these all too important roads in the state are smiling on it. Considering how controversial the Governor’s appearance on the scene was, it became all too obvious that he needed to do positive things with regard to Imo people’s welfare to calm frayed nerves.
Within the Owerri metropolis, the capital city of the state, only a crooked mind would refuse to see and acknowledge the tremendous efforts of the administration to rid the city of the menace of annoying traffic jams occurring on the major streets in the metropolis. First, it was a robust demolition of expansive roundabouts erected by the government of Rochas Okorocha in the city’s major junctions.
Curiously, Okorocha had an un-equalled penchant for roundabouts. The roundabouts, which were built on the Wetheral by Douglas road, Wetheral by Mbaise Road, Wetheral by Okigwe road, Orlu Road by Assumpta and Naze/Nekede Poly junctions, as well as others did nothing but slow down movement of vehicles when the drivers were either trying to turn left or move forward.
They were simply too large and occupied precious space that should have been left for free flow of traffic.On coming into power, the administration of Gov. Hope Uzodimma set at work to remove these encumbering roundabouts and to replace them with efficient traffic lights that automatically took over control of traffic in the major junctions.
Efforts were also made to fix the bad spots on these junctions to permit a hitch-free movement. The latest of the roundabouts to be brushed off was the one at Nkwo Orji junction on Okigwe road, a spot that continuously proved to be a nightmare to road users for a very long time because of the regular traffic build-ups occurring there. With the removal of the roundabout, traffic also improved at that junction, and work is going on to smoothen rough spots that impair movement.
As a measure to check the constant chaos occurring on some other junctions on Wetheral Road, such as the School road by MCC, the Christ Church and the Cherubim junctions, government decided to block the crossroads on these spots, allowing only U-turns for vehicles wishing to cross Wetheral into School Road through MCC Road or vice versa .
Same applies to vehicles crossing to Osuji Street from Ikenegbu Layout at Cherubim junction. Although all these have helped to drastically reduce traffic jams in the metropolis, experience has shown that the congestion automatically transferred to the points where U-turns are made by the motorists. Besides, lazy motorists are tempted to drive on lanes against traffic.
Perhaps, on a very good day, when the government decides to focus on the road that traverses Egbu, Emekuku, Mbaise right through to Umuahia, it will remember to deal with the roundabout facing Shoprite in view of the traffic build-up that occurs often on that spot.
Moving further down, towards Egbu, is the mother of all traffic jams occurring at the Christiana Hospital bus stop regularly.
That one, sometimes, stretches from beyond the power substation, up to Afor Egbu market, attempting also to reach the Federal Road Safety junction. Of late, the situation has been compounded by a large pool that had begun to form at the valley where the Awaka hill descends at Afor Egbu. That body of water appeared on the road as soon as residents in that part of Egbu built a barricade against the charging flood that constituted nuisance to them down towards Umuayalu. When it rains, vehicles virtually swim through the pool.
To make matters worse for the road users, there is a refuse dump usually submerged right inside the water that is retained on that spot. This, on its own, constitutes health hazards for those who wade through the flood to reach their destinations.It was, perhaps, out of frustration that the residents spent their money to construct the barricade, having suffered the damaging effects of the flood for years unending. They must have cried in vain to the government authorities to remedy the situation before taking such a measure which had turned out to be inimical to a generality of the road users.
It is, therefore, imperative that the government should focus attention on that spot and deal with it once and for all. Flood control experts working for the government could choose to create artificial lakes where the water could drain into it when it rains.Down the road to Umuahia, near Heartland FM, there is another body of water threatening to rubbish the road and inconvenience its users.
.Talking about flooding, the city centre turns into a nightmare when it rains, primarily because the main drains channelling the water to Otamiri River were blocked during Okorocha’s urban renewal project. That again calls for the attention of experts.Another way to help traffic in Owerri is to make by-passes and alternative routes, at least useful for the season, so that the volume of traffic on the major roads could be reduced.
Someone travelling to Okigwe or Enugu from Emekuku should be able to traverse Uratta successfully to get to Nkwo Orji or Obilubi. From Port Harcourt, one should be able to bypass the Assumpta Cathedral roundabout to move to either Aba or Onitsha.
Regrettably, the era of direct labour when the Ministries of works undertook some road maintenance jobs, have given way to the era of contracts needing humongous amounts of money to execute.At the Assumpta Roundabout, traffic gridlocks are caused by commercial vehicle loading enroute to Port Harcourt, Bayelsa, Onitsha and other adjoining towns. This has necessitated the creation of bus stops off the vehicle tracks on the roads.
Government should also consider fortifying the flyovers on Orlu and Okigwe roads for use.In summary, the things required to set the capital city of Owerri on the path of traffic decongestion are smoother roads, flood control, obedience to traffic rules and regulations and very essentially, the rehabilitation of alternative roads to absorb part of the huge traffic that builds up daily on the major roads in the town. So far the people are happy that a government is responding to their needs. In evaluating the administration, one would give a verdict that it is on the verge of scoring an A in road rehabilitation should it sustain the present tempo.
Dr. Odu can be reached via dirimrich2018@gmail.com.