Speaking on Net2 TV over the weekend, Agyapong observed that people’s unwillingness to use the footbridge is due its design.
He lamented that the footbridge does not match the investment made on it by the Ministry of Roads.
“The engineers too, they are old fashioned. You construct this long bridge and expect who to use it. Who should use it? The engineers too should fix it. We went a Dubai trip and I intentionally invited the local government minister. Right in front of our hotel there was an overpass. To cross the road, there wouldn’t be more than twelve steps.
The other day I saw someone using (a) motor on the overpass here. What kind of engineers are you? How can you do this design. People don’t use it because its too long. The Roads Minister pumped a lot of money into that project because of the demonstration. Today, even ghosts are not using it. How can you make this design?”
The footbridge was constructed following weeks of demonstrations by citizens over deadly incidents involving pedestrians using the road.
The design of the footbridge was criticized by some people but the Project Manager for First Sky Limited, Ernest Hammond explained that the design was to accommodate physically-challenged persons.
“The original design as I am aware of has stairs which was not disabled friendly. What we have done is more disabled friendly; meaning it is a ramp rather than a stair and it’s easier to use for everybody,” he explained.
“The constraints we tried to overcome was, we want to make this ramp accessible to all; handicapped people and people who might not have the energy to go over a ramp that is very steep. We tried to make this as gentle as possible… This is the best design for the situation on the ground,” he explained further in a Citi FM interview.
“What we need to know is that with regards to the length of the bridge, this is internationally accepted and you can find similar structures all over the world. Some of them [are] actually longer. There are some bridges in the UK, China, and Dubai which are considerably longer than what we have constructed,” he added.
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