30 Mar 2017

Three junctions in Francistown will be closed for at least four weeks effective next week.
Speaking at the stakeholders’ consultation meeting on March 29, North East regional chief roads engineer, Mr Letlhogela Radipata has said the affected junctions are the ones near the fire station; between the University of Botswana campus and Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital as well as the one in Somerset East.

He said the closure was meant to give way for the completion of construction of the three remaining components of the on-going spaghetti.
He explained that as a measure to try and ease traffic flow during the closure, one of the fly-over carriage ways of the spaghetti and the other one underneath behind Metcourt would be opened for use by traffic.
He elaborated that from the bus rank, south bound buses using the A1 road would go through Kgaphamadi, while those leaving the bus rank to the south would either use the Kgaphamadi route or go behind Metcourt to pass underneath the spaghetti fly-over.

He thanked the stakeholders for their cooperation and contribution since 2012 when the project commenced. He said currently the project was 93.7 per cent complete and within budget although Cyclone Dineo delayed it by 45 days.
Mr Radipata appreciated that while the construction to some extent inconvenienced stakeholders, especially the business community, they compromised as they knew they would benefit at the end of the day.
He further thanked the police for utilising their already limited resources to ease the flow of traffic during the construction exercise and the taxis and buses associations for their cooperation.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, Department of Roads acting deputy director, Mr Botshelo Maedza however noted that since traffic would continue to increase, the city council should come up with strategies to manage the situation.
Mr Maedza cited that some of the strategies to manage traffic could be to allow certain vehicles to access some areas at specific times and to introduce parking fees in some areas.
A consultant for Pula Consultants, Mr Koobatile Sabokone assured the stakeholders that the situation during the closure would continuously be monitored and minor arrangements would be made as and when need arises.
District No 1 traffic officer, Superintendent Allison Mbaiwa said currently 18 police officers have been deployed at junctions to control traffic.

He said since September 2016 when the A1 road was opened for public use two fatal accidents that claimed two lives in Tonota and one life in Tati Siding were recorded.
He further told the stakeholders that between March 3-6 an operation was conducted and out of 65 drivers tested, 36 were charged for exceeding the permitted alcohol levels while 169 were apprehended for speeding.
He said statistics had indicated that drunken driving and speeding were the major contributory factors to accidents in Francistown.

Supt Mbaiwa implored all road users to observe traffic laws and regulations. He further said the police would continue to help in easing traffic flow.
Francistown town clerk, Mr Mompati Seleka noted that the inter-change would not only address traffic in the city, but would, to some extent, stimulate the economy.
He said the inter-change would help the city realise its vision of becoming vibrant. ENDS