Suburban
A NEW traffic light has been installed at the busy intersection of Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Road (formerly Enterprise Road) and Ridgeway North Road in Highlands.
Diana Nherera Suburban Reporter
City of Harare installed the traffic light following requests from motorists who were complaining about how difficult it was to negotiate past the intersection. It was particularly a nightmare for motorists driving on Ridgeway North Road intending to cross to either side of ED Mnangagwa Road.
Several accidents had taken place at the intersection before the installation of the new traffic light.
Council spokesperson Mr Innocent Ruwende said the installation of the traffic light also followed traffic flow studies the municipality carried out as part of its planning.
“We carried out traffic studies as part of our planning and we also received requests from the local residents who were finding it difficult to cross E.D. Mnangagwa Road and a decision was made to improve traffic control and safety by installing traffic signals at the intersection.
“The new signals at the intersection with Arcturus Road will help in easing congestion and reducing accidents,” said Mr Ruwende.He said the medium to long term measure will be to dualise the ED Mnangagwa Road to cater for increased traffic on the Enterprise Development Corridor which is now a mixed use zone, allowing for both residential and commercial occupation along the route.
“This development coupled with increased housing developments in the area has resulted in increased traffic volumes hence the need to dualise the road,” he said.
Mr Ruwende said more signals will be installed this year covering intersections such as E.D. Mnangagwa Road and Gletwyn Road and Arcturus Road and Harare Drive among others.
Last month, Harare East Member of Parliament Mr Tendai Biti told Suburban in an interview that E.D. Mnangagwa Road was now the most congested road in Harare. He said the road was narrow and could no longer cope with increased commercial activity in the area.
“There’s so much commercial activity particularly restaurants and service stations when there is no corresponding expansion of the road. So increasing commercial activity when the road has not been expanded is just a creation of a disaster.
“There’s a new mall at the corner of Emmerson Mnangagwa Road and Arcturus Road yet the road was not widened to cater for customers of that mall.
So this is terrible town planning and we wonder how a development permit could have been issued when clearly the development is not supported by the desired infrastructure,” said Mr Biti.
At a Ward 9 pre-budget consultative meeting held in Greendale in September last year, residents urged council to set aside funds in the 2023 budget to build traffic circles at the intersections of Court Road and Arcturus Road and Arcturus Road and Harare Drive to ease congestion.
Ward 9 Councillor Musarurwa Stewart Mutizwa said accidents were now a common feature at corner Harare Drive and Arcturus Road with congestion now problematic during the morning and evening rush periods.
