TRAFFIC congestion is one of the biggest challenges facing Harare today. With increased population and a growing economy, the number of private vehicles on the road has increased, but the infrastructure to support them has not kept up. This has led to daily traffic jams which frustrate both commuters and motorists. The Harare City Council must take steps to address this issue so that people can move around the city with ease.
The traffic congestion is making it tough for people to commute to their workplaces or other destinations on time.
The traffic jams are becoming longer each day, and motorists are spending more time on the roads, which is causing frustration.
A lot of productive time is also lost as workers spend time they could have been at work in traffic jams.
There is an urgent need for the Harare City Council to find a lasting solution to the consistent traffic congestion problem, especially on Seke Road before the flyover driving to the central business district.
Seke Road is the busiest road connecting the city’s south-eastern suburbs with the CBD. The road hosts thousands of vehicles every day, which results in traffic jams that logjam, especially during rush peak periods.
Businesses are also affected since the jams make it hard for goods and services to reach the market on time. The traffic situation is causing frustration to motorists and council needs to find a solution to this problem urgently.
One of the reasons why the traffic within Harare is so congested is due to the limited road capacity. Harare’s roads were built to handle a smaller number of cars, but as the population of the city grew, so did the number of vehicles.
Additionally, there is a lack of investment in the city’s public transport system, which has resulted in more people relying on private cars as their primary mode of transport.
To solve the congestion problem, there is a need to prioritise investment in the public transport system. Developing an efficient public transportation system will encourage more people to use it, which will reduce the number of private vehicles on the roads.
This approach has worked in other major cities across the world and is also the recommended option by many urban planners.
Maybe residents could also consider carpooling which encourages people who work in the same area or businesses to share a vehicle. Carpooling would reduce the number of cars on the roads, and it would also reduce the overall cost of transport for individuals.
But the city council should prioritise the improvement of the existing roads and building new ones.
Reducing traffic congestion in Harare will require a multi-faceted, sustained effort by all stakeholders. The government, infrastructure developers, and residents must work together to effect a change in the transport system to mitigate the increasing traffic congestion in the city.
The implementation of policies supporting public transport and incentivising alternative modes of travel, such as cycling, walking, will help reduce traffic on the road.