Welcome Clock Tower flyover; let’s have more

The President yesterday launched the project for construction of a mega flyover at Clock Tower. The Shs224 billion project is part of the bigger master plan to build transport infrastructure to mitigate traffic congestion and ease movements in the city.
Under the grand plan, there will be more flyovers built on the city’s other traffic jam-prone entry and exit points such as Jinja Road and others.

This is a great development. The Clock Tower flyover project should be a precursor to more rapid and similar developments to bring relief and smile to the public who have been grappling with a congested city and distressful traffic jam for years.
The country is grateful to the funders and other stakeholders for their financial and material contributions to these infrastructural plans and hopefully, Kampala will have a look of a modern city that reflects a country’s capital.

The flyover project is the preliminary phase and part of the city’s new Multi-Modal Transport Master Plan for Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area, which seeks to phase out boda bodas and taxis and replace them with the Bus Transit System and Rail Transit System.

However, these grand transport infrastructure plans should be accompanied by corresponding changes in management of other hazards or challenges that have been escalating the traffic jam and congestion in the city.
There must be equal or similar plans to rework the drainage channels to contain the chronic storm water and floods that often times paralyse traffic flow in the city during heavy rains when motorists, cyclists and pedestrians cram together into the few accessible roads.
Vendors and hawkers must also be taken off the streets and relocated elsewhere to decongest the roads, walkways and taxi parks to create space in the city.

The establishment of the police CCTV Traffic Control Centre is a great development, but it must monitor and manage vehicle movements in the city by reigning in undisciplined or errant motorists to stop recklessness that usually compounds the traffic mess.
In addition, Kampala is in dire need of a sound rail system linking the capital to Entebbe International Airport to reduce the heavy road traffic along the airport highway.

The proposed Bus Transit and Rail Transit system in the city is a good addition but it will be more effective if it’s supplemented by a train link for traffic leading out of the city.
If the above incidental challenges are not properly addressed, the flyovers alone will not deliver the desired optimum results from the new infrastructure set-ups.