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MOTORISTS have expressed concern over faulty traffic lights at different intersections, across the city, which have resulted in numerous accidents every week.
Street lighting remains bad and is getting worse.
There are traffic lights in the city centre which are frequently down, and some have not been repaired for years, even when repair might just be a set of new bulbs.
Bank Street is a critical link between the two halves of the city centre and has been remodelled to ensure smooth traffic flows.
But, when the intersections at Mbuya Nehanda Street, Chinhoyi Street, Leopold Takawira Street and Julius Nyerere Way have no working traffic lights, as is the case now, there is a gridlock at peak periods.
Motorists are angry over the Council’s lack of seriousness when it comes to dealing with the traffic lights menace.
“The Council is incapable of running the city, everything has been going south, as robots are always down,” said Bernard Chiripanyanga, a taxi driver stationed at the corner of Sam Nujoma Street and Jason Moyo Avenue.
“It is actually strange that residents are so naive, they know they are getting the short end of the stick but they complain while repeating the same mistakes of voting questionable people into Council.”
Another motorist, Yemurai Zisengwe, said during the rainy season, the Council should release a full force of their traffic department to man each intersection to avoid congestion.
“I have long observed and found out that the traffic jams are worse when it is raining, in the evening and during peak hours.
“Therefore, the city must release all traffic employees to man the intersections,” he said.
Council spokesperson, Innocent Ruwende, said vandalism was the main reason why most of the traffic lights were not working.
“Most of the traffic lights are not working because of vandalism, you take for example Julius Nyerere and Robert Mugabe intersection, theft/vandalism reared its ugly head again,” he said.
“We are in the process of installing new traffic lights and repairing old ones but we are having problems with people who are stealing components of the traffic lights.
“Accidents, as well, have claimed some of the traffic lights, for example, along Bulawayo Road at N Richards.”
Ruwende said the Council was working towards installing 12 000 street lights by 2025.
“We recently installed traffic lights along Emmerson Mnangagwa (formerly Enterprise Road) and Acturus roads,” he said.
“In terms of lighting, we want to install and upgrade 12 000 street lights by 2025 as per the City’s Strategic Plan.
“We are targeting to complete 3200 upgrades and new installations by December this year.”
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter