The new Molepolole-Gaborone road- my take

| Monday May 3, 2010 00:00

Whether this will be achieved or not is the interest of this discussion. Let me hasten to point out that I have no statistics to back up my position. My position is informed by observation, past experiences and also experiments with similar scenarios while a student at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies in Sydney. The reader has to understand that one of the objectives of building a new road is to attend to issues that the existing cannot handle currently and even in the future especially congestion which can be a nuisance to people's lives. My opinion especially in regards to the reduction of congestion in this corridor is that it will not be achieved!

Having observed the road design, I would like to conclude that significant milestones will be achieved in the reduction of the accidents especially that lead to fatalities. The road has been designed in such a way that opposite movements have little chance of interfering with each other by building a media (barrier built to separate opposite movements) in the middle of the road. This however presents another challenge. The road becomes rigid losing out on traffic management techniques like regulating lanes according to the flow of traffic (three lanes in the morning coming to Gaborone and vice-versa in the afternoon) increasing the road capacity by capturing excess capacity in the opposite direction.

The traffic flow between Metsimotlhabe and 10 km or so before Molepolole will be quite phenomenal. Going to Molepolole will be a cruise 10 minutes or so...then you suddenly hit a traffic jam just as you are about to enter one of the biggest villages, losing out on time saved while you were cruising. Getting to Molapo Crossing bang! You are now moving an inch per second! I know this may be over exaggerated. What I am trying to show really, as others may have observed in the past, is that these issues may have been overlooked by the road designers.

What is going to happen is that motorists will be more dissatisfied than before because what they thought the road would achieve may not be. The reality is that you are simply taking everyone quickly to the two bottlenecks (Molapo Crossing and 10km to Molepolole). A very dense congestion will now be created at these two points bringing traffic to almost a halt. From the SSKB area going towards the city you have three lanes in each direction which then becomes two after Molapo Crossing.

This in itself is a design flaw notwithstanding the space challenge. The decision to have the western-bypass sharing surface with this new road was definitely misinformed. What will simply happen is that both roads will lose the highway status to just local roads. One of the most unfortunate things, even though it is better than the roundabout in this case, is signalising (putting traffic lights) the intersection.

This has surely declared the demise of the western-bypass. In most cities, the traffic that causes congestion is 'through traffic'. This traffic has no business going through the city and this is why the western-bypass was built.

Unfortunately this concept was long lost because of conflicting local roads being joined to it. The kind of planning we do is downright short-sighted and has to be discouraged. A holistic approach that considers effects of our decisions beyond the immediate is recommended. We have to build for 100 years to come.

One disturbing factor is that at the rate at which Gaborone is growing, the city may have to relocate in the near future because mobility will be highly incapacitated. I am losing hope that the city can be redeemed, unless we start now.

In a study that was undertaken recently by the World Bank, Botswana being one of the subjects, great inefficiencies were reported in our logistics operations. In fact Botswana was rated 134th out of 155 countries (Mmegi, 18th January 2010). Among factors that were measured is transport infrastructure. This according, to Mmegi led to Botswana '...being grouped among 2009's 'underperformers''. Mobility leads to high cost of logistics, high health costs because of heart-related diseases because of road rage and impatience.

This costs the nation dearly as the country fails to attract foreign direct investment because of poor transport systems, especially road networks. The government and city planners have to consider all these things as they plan going forward. This is in the best interest of the nation, so let us act now!

In conclusion, the government of Botswana is one of the few in the world which even under tough economic conditions still finds it necessary and possible to put the hard-to-find cash into road network developments, which is laudable. Some nations have turned to the private sector to help them raise construction money. However, for these investments to bring great returns thinking ahead is the only way. Building and having to destroy in a short period is self-defeating.

*Thuso MphelaGaborone

*Thuso Mphela is a graduate of the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, Sydney, Australia currently teaching in Logistics and Supply Chain area at the University of Botswana