Ugandans happier about roads

Who does what?

The lack of public awareness of road agencies and their responsibilities remains low which makes it difficult for road users to among other attributes direct complaints to the right agency for timely redress.

The challenges are further compounded by inadequate public awareness of the services that road agencies are supposed to provide on their respective networks making it hard for the agencies to manage user expectations. Some of which may be misplaced.

The public also deemed it necessary for road agencies to improve road designs to meet the needs of special interest groups such as school children and other pedestrians by ensuring that adequate provisions are made to enable such road user groups and motorized traffic to safely co-exist on the same roads.

From the findings, it is apparent that the substantial investments in the sector over the recent years are starting to bear fruit in the eyes of the general public as completion of construction and rehabilitation of several roads has been achieved in the last two years especially on the national road network.

For KCCA, in particular, widening of various sections of city roads and signaling of junctions has greatly improved traffic flow in the city roads and signaling of junctions has greatly improved traffic flow in the city by reducing congestion at junctions, a factor that has been one of the irritants to road users in the city.

Katumba Wamala, the minister of state for works, said the government is aware of the challenges on Uganda’s roads and it is doing whatever it can to improve the road users’ experience pointing  to the new Roads Act, 2018, which he said will address a number of road design complaints.

“Roads are made for people and the people must be satisfied,” Wamala said.

Wamala said ongoing efforts by several roads agencies to complement the non-motorized policy on the Ugandan roads especially in urban areas will also go a long way in ensuring more sustainable road designs that meet the needs of all road users including the often neglected pedestrians and cyclists.

Road transport remains the most dominant mode of transport in Uganda accounting for 99% of total passenger flow and 95% of total goods cargo in the country.  Local transport economists say roads offer many advantages including; flexibility, the ability to move many passenger groups and goods consignments between several destinations, and they also provide modal interchange with all other modes of transport.

But Uganda’s road network is still dogged by several challenges relating to road specifications and design, traffic flow, road asset management, and road user behaviour which factors have prevented many road users from attaining satisfaction that meets their expectations.

Going forward, Eng. Odongo said the road agencies should continue to address the priorities highlighted by road users. These, he said, include; road signage and markings; dust control, potholes, enforcement of traffic rules; and decongestion of traffic (particularly on the KCCA network).

“Road agencies should continue to engage the general public in their activities as a means of increasing public awareness of the roles of road agencies,” he said, “Road agencies should also endeavour to always make available information on ongoing road projects such as source of funding; contractors; scope of works; and start and estimated completion dates as a means to manage road users’ expectations.”

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