BULAWAYO City council (BCC) has proposed to improve flow of traffic at intersections in the central business district by only allowing vehicles turning to the left to go through at junctions that are not controlled by traffic lights.
In a recent notice, council said this would improve traffic flow and address problems related to congestion, intersection efficiency, pedestrian safety and public transport efficiency.
The intersections that have been selected for improvement include (in order of priority) Herbert Chitepo Street/10th Avenue, Fort Street and 10th Avenue, Robert Mugabe Way/8th Avenue, Herbert Chitepo Street/Leopold Takawira Avenue as well as Fort Street/11th Avenue.
To amplify this, at the corner of Herbert Chitepo Street and 10th Avenue (north west of TM Hyper Supermarket), a motorist approaching Herbert Chitepo from an easterly direction will turn left into Herbert Chitepo Street heading south.
However, a motorist approaching from a westerly direction (Mhlahlandlela) will neither turn right into the same direction nor go straight along 10th Avenue, but will turn left and may then turn right at the traffic light-controlled Herbert Chitepo Street/9th Avenue intersection.
Indications are that in this way, vehicles coming from opposite directions at intersections without traffic lights do not all turn heading in the same direction, causing traffic jam.
Acting town clerk Edwin Mzingwane, however, said the improvement would result in longer travel time since motorists would have to travel a bit further in order to turn right.
“Every effort has been made to ensure disruption to vehicular and pedestrian traffic is kept to a minimum,” he said.
- Uproar over census figures
- Byo Arts Festival in turmoil…One year later, festival has yet to pay artists…Organisers play cat and mouse with artists
- Bulawayo struggles to clear housing backlog
- Council acts tough on debts
Keep Reading
“However, vehicles approaching a ‘left turn only’ intersection would need to travel a little longer distance to the next traffic light-controlled intersection to turn right and continue to their destination.”
