Ethiopia plans to build 40 intersections in its capital Addis Ababa, in a bid to ease traffic jams in the City which is being made worse with the ever-growing population. 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.

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 $7.6 million (220 million birr).

In addition to this, Addis launched a separate $20.8 million (600 million birr) project, sponsored by the World Bank, in March last year 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, ten 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.

The city hosts about 585,000 vehicles according to a recent study done by an Indian firm, with 20,000 additional vehicles joining the city's traffic every year.

Sources: Construction Review Online, Addis Fortune