Biriwa

Half the road from Accra to Biriwa is now a nicely paved 4-lane. All may be completed in the next year or two. The Daily Graphic noted the other day that a new road up north is nearing completion. The road from Accra to the east is in fantastic shape all the way to the Volta River.

What better sign of national progress? I recall my first trip to Ghana in 1979. The bus rides were agonizing. Rides in cars were not much better. A recent World Bank report suggests that prices for many products of West Africa are some 25% more expensive than they need to be because of the extra expense of businesses coping with poor infrastructure, especially roads.



Our host at the Biriwa Beach Hotel apologized that my reserved room was not available -- failure of the air conditioner for that unit. The other "ocean view" room was occupied by someone else, and I suspect he had that room because he's a regular at the hotel: the head of the Japanese company that's building the road. I spied him walking out to his car while I was sitting under the large tree on the terrace of the hotel sipping a cool one. I wonder what he thinks about Ghana.

Bicycles

I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out the Ako Adjei Interchange. It's a triple decker, a bit like this one, imagining that Ring Road runs from lower right to upper left, while Independence Avenue runs from upper right to lower left, and the former Sankara Circle is at the center:



The objective is to travel from lower right, through the intersection, continuing out the upper left, essentially in a straight line. Only motorized vehicles generally pass straight through. Bikes and pedestrians essentially exit, cross at the circle, and then re-enter.

There are two points along the circle where bikes and pedestrians must cross lanes of motorized traffic. The first is the point at which cars exit the cirle heading toward the upper right. The second is the point where cars enter the circle heading from the upper right.

In theory, cars exiting or entering the circle would yield, but in practice they do not. In practice, cars travel into, around, and out of the circle at fairly high speeds, perhaps 30km per hour. More importantly, motorists do not seem to have any expectation of stopping. Rather, they do very much seem to expect pedestrians and bicycles will yield to cars.



There seems to be no consensus among motorists about the actual rules of the road. Some think motorists really do have the right of way, even when turning right, while others have more complicated ideas about the rules. While the rules may be in doubt, what actually happens in an interchange is fairly well understood by everyone. All advise me, for my own safety, to dismount, wait until a motorist gives me explicit permission, and proceed only then.

I'd say three quarters of the cars I encounter do in fact yield to pedestrians, as I think the law requires. That leaves about one quarter that are out to get me. Many seem to think I must be absolutely crazy to ride a bicycle when surely I have enough money to afford a car. It's all about expectations. I suppose I just need to learn to expect that I'll be needing to dismount and walk my bike thru the Ako Adjei Interchange, at least for the near future.