Nkrumah Circle project: Contractor tackles foundation for flyover
Work on the Kwame Nkrumah Circle project is progressing steadily. The Brazilian construction firm, Queiroz Galvao, executing the 74-million euro project is currently laying the foundation for the construction of the flyovers on the Akasanoma-Nsawam road section of the project.
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Work on the three-tier interchange started in September last year.
So far, eight piles which form the foundation for the overheads and support for the piers (pillars) have been drilled.
That side of the project is designed to have 10 piers. One pier, according to the Resident Engineer, Mr Kweku Diafo, has 12 piles.
The circle itself has been cordoned off and inside it the contractor is preparing the four remaining piles to pave the way for the rest of the work to continue.
“The project is proceeding gradually. What is happening now seems not to be catchy so nobody sees exactly what we are doing,” the Project Co-ordinator of the Department of Urban Roads (DUR), Mr William Donkor, told the Daily Graphic during a visit to the project site last Monday.
Mr Donkor indicated that about three kilometres of roadside drains beginning from the Feo Oyo road, close to the New Times Corporation, had already been completed.
“We have already done the drains on both sides of the road from the SSNIT offices, near the New Times Corporation, towards the Awudome Junction,” he said.
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Apart from those works, he said, the contractor had moved to the eastern end, where it was now working from the Ring Road Central towards the Nkrumah Circle again.
Roadside drains for the Ring Road West (from Odaw towards the Obetsebi-Lamptey Circle) were about 90 per cent complete, according to Mr Diafo.
Drainage works on the Nsawam Road, the Kwame Nkrumah Avenue and the Ring Road Central are yet to begin.
The new design
“The roadside drains define the limit of the road, so once those are accepted, we can now work in between the drains on the left and the right,” Mr Diafo said.
The first level flyover of the new project will be between the Akasanoma road, towards the Accra Newtown Junction on the Nsawam road, as well as from the Newtown Junction on the Nsawam road to the Kwame Nkrumah Avenue, around PTC in the opposite direction.
The second level flyover is on the Ring Road between the Fanofa Bridge and Feo Oyo and connects the Ring Road Central to the Ring Road West.
The ground level has a roundabout at the existing circle.
The Ring Road flyover also lifts the Ring Road above the Odaw River and the rail line.
“We just started work on those bridges and we are building their foundations,” Mr Diafo said.
Traffic management and diversions
The Director of the DUR, Mr Abass Awolu, said the department was working in line with the contractor’s work plan to provide alternative roads.
He said vehicular traffic would be diverted onto the Otublohum-Dadeban road once its riding surface was improved.
Challenges
The major challenge now is the rather slow pace at which the piles are being drilled.
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Mr Diafo explained that the contractor was, however, trying to get a more appropriate drilling machine to work on the type of soil (soft materials) within the roundabout to facilitate a faster drilling process.
Compensation/relocation of utility lines
Mr Awolu indicated that the relocation of utility lines, water, electricity and telecommunication was ongoing.
The office of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) which is sited along the project way will, however, be affected.
Consequently, the DUR, Mr Awolu indicated, had come to an agreement with the GWCL officials to build another office at a different location.
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Significance of project
The Ring Road, of which the Kwame Nkrumah Circle is part, was constructed in the 1960s but it has long exceeded its capacity.
The Kwame Nkrumah Circle is a key intersection in the arterial road network in Accra and carries about 84,000 vehicles a day.
It, however, constitutes a major bottleneck in the major road network that links the suburban areas of Accra to the central business district.
Writers email: naa.bentil@graphic.com.gh