Ethiopia is set to construct 40 intersections in its capital Addis Ababa to ease traffic jams in the City which is being made worse with the ever growing population; now going up to 3.5 million people.
Addis Ababa City Road Traffic Management Agency will hire a consultant to study, design and supervise the construction of the intersections with tender notice already served.
The winning company will conduct traffic surveys, prepare preliminary and final designs of the sections, prepare bid documents, locate where to build the intersections, estimate the cost of the design and construction phases and supervise the project during implementation.
Additionally, the consultancy firm will identify intersections requiring upgrading and also study the existing drainage systems within 100m from the proposed area.
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Projects initiated by the Addis Ababa City Road Traffic Management Agency
In its quest to maximize road safety the Agency upgraded 31 intersections last year together with traffic lights and signage along the routes at a cost of US $7.6m.
Moreover, the city also launched a US $20.8m project sponsored by the World Bank last year March to design an Intelligent Transport System Master Plan and make improvements to five corridors, 27 intersections, 132 road junctions, and 22 existing signalized locations.
In the fiscal year 2018/2019, 10 roundabouts were converted to intersections and traffic lights installed while in the current fiscal year the City Agency is planning to add lights to seven roundabouts and convert them to intersections.
Road safety is the city’s biggest challenge with more than 64 people per 10,000 die every year from road accidents making the country eight-worst in Africa. In the last two years, 456 people have lost their lives to accidents in the capital.
The city hosts about 585,000 vehicles according to a recent study done by an Indian firm, with 20,000 additional vehicles joining the capital traffic every year.
