Until last year, the Haatso Agbogba road was a traffic-free route and provided an alternative for residents of Pantang, Oyarefa, Ablajei, old Ashongman and Agbogba in the Ga East municipality who want to avoid the Madina highway to the central business district.

But the situation is no longer the same as motorist now endure traffic hours on end due to a contractor’s failure to return a portion of the road to its original state after cutting through to expand a bridge on the stretch.

The stretch until the expansion of the bridge as a major flood spot whenever it rains. Government awarded the bridge expansion works to a contractor following recommendations by engineers. The work started in May 2020 and completed in September same year.

The expansion has enabled a huge intake of water after a downpour thereby addressing the flooding situation in the Haasto, North Legon, and the Agbogba enclave.

However, in fixing the flooding situation, the contractor cut through 10 meters of the asphalted road thereby rendering the portion of untarred and this has brought about unimaginable vehicular traffic on the stretch during peaks hours in the morning and evening.

For many, including a medical doctor with the Ridge Hospital, Michael Gadzekpo, said the situation is simply unacceptable blaming both the contractor and government for the current state of the road.

"This is simply horrible, every morning we have to be in traffic for over two hours for a stretch that should take just 15 minutes to cross. This is all because of this small portion...reason simple as every vehicle will have to slow down upon reaching this point and that causes the buildup.

"Let me say last week on my way from work I forgot about the portion and nearly had an accident," he said.

Dr Gadzekpo is also concerned about the loss of productive hours and the impact it is having on the health of commuters.

"I am a doctor and sitting long hours in traffic can give rise to high blood pressure and in some instances enduring air pollution. I think government owes us an explanation because the contractor has packed and left meaning he is done with the work. So why should anyone allow him to go and will not return the road to the state he met it", he added.

His concern is shared by many commuters who are disappointed with the state of the road.

For commercial taxi driver, the situation is affecting their daily sales.

Kwasi Donkor earns his daily bread plying the road every day and he wants an urgent solution to what he describes as "a man-made problem".

"I drive on this road every day and the traffic situation is impacting on my daily sales because much of the commuting is spent in traffic and repairs of my car due to this small portion.

"Last month, a pastor was involved in an accident here because he didn’t know that the section was bad...it is by God’s grace that he is alive but his vehicle got mangled in the process," Donkor said.