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of impatient drivers at the intersection of Samora Machel and Leopold Takawira avenues in Harare meant that Mrs Grace Gambe would miss a 5.30pm prayer meeting in Greencroft.
As she sat in her car notifying other choir members about the delay, Mrs Gambe watched the cars crawl towards the traffic lights, witnessed brief tense moments among motorists, which were characterised by swearing, near misses and minor accidents.
The time is now 5.50pm and Mrs Gambe finds out she is still about the same spot and locked in a web too difficult to beat.
Two ramshackle cars are interlocked bumper to bumper in the traffic jam, the owners negotiating on how to solve the problem while other motorists complain that they were blocking the road.
Such is the situation on Harare’s roads every morning and evening and most drivers shrug when the time to come to work and go home nears. The situation is worse when the rains fall.
“I get nightmares each time I drive to and from work. I just do not know what the problem is. Harare is begging for a serious urban planner with a motoring background,” complained Mrs Gambe.
Her sentiments are the feeling of the majority motorists and commuters alike as they spend close to an hour to cross central Harare during the morning, lunch hour and evening rush hours. The situation is worsened each time it rains and where traffic lights have broken down. The poor road network planning becomes evident as the city’s roads are almost impassable.
Since the introduction of the multi-currency regime, many people in both formal and informal employment have saved enough money to buy cars, hence their increase on the roads.
While an old adage says a load no matter how big, is never heavy for its owner, the same cannot be said of Harare’s roads. This could just be a sad tale of a city that has become small.
The worst affected roads are Samora Machel Avenue, Seke, Simon Mazorodze, Mutare and Enterprise roads.
Town planners argue that the city’s growth in terms of human and vehicular population is not being matched with new mass transport innovations.
The same measures that applied 10 years ago when the city’s traffic population was half the present numbers have not changed.
A lot of residential areas have been built but the number of roads never increased.
For example, Seke Road was initially used by residents from Chitungwiza, St Martin’s, Sunningdale 1, some parts of Hatfield, Arcadia, Braeside and Cranborne . But now more and more suburbs that include Sunningdale 2 and 3, some parts of Waterfalls have new residential areas, some farming areas now have more people and, above all Chitungwiza, has grown immensely.
Everyone coming from the aforementioned residential areas still feed into Seke Road, as there is no alternative. The same applies to roads that include Harare-Bulawayo, Enterprise and Simon Mazorodze into which cars from residential areas spill.
Chairman of the Department of Rural and Urban Planning at the University of Zimbabwe Mr Joel Chaeruka argues that traffic on Harare’s roads is not yet that bad as congestion is not experienced throughout the day.
“At the moment, congestion is from 7.30am to 9am and between 4 and 7pm. During other times traffic volumes in the CBD are quite low,” he said.
He said one critical factor to consider is that Harare’s roads are narrow, in a sort of bad condition and cannot cope anymore.
“It would be easier if local and through traffic was separated. For example, vehicles from Norton, Bulawayo intending to travel to Mutare do not have to come through the CBD but can use a bypass.
“It would also be easier if we had a second level road above,” he said.
He suggested the construction of raised motorways and the installation of prohibitive structures that bar heavy vehicles from using the inner city routes during normal working hours.
A number of explanations have been advanced to explain congestion on Harare’s roads.
“Firstly, Harare lacks adequate parking space in the Central Business District.
“This naturally causes congestion as motorists spend several minutes on the road waiting for other motorists to drive out for them to park,” adds Mr Chaeruka.
He says bad driving habits such as failure to observe traffic signs and lights and stopping at undesignated places contribute to congestion as well.
“The capital outlay needed for construction of new roads is huge and if the country is to develop roads like Johannesburg, we are looking at       several billions of dollars. This can be done if   our economy improves. I do not think we can      do that in the next 20 to 30 years,”Mr Chaeruka said.
He added that transport is a complicated subject, which touches many issues that include location of offices and travel regulations among many others.
He revealed that some countries provide the outer zones of cities with huge parkades and a shuttle service is available.
“We need more parking space in the CBD. For example, we need parking space near the Government offices at Causeway and also close to railway lines to avoid street parking.
“Putting up a parkade would require millions of dollars and would take up to six months if the money is available,” he said.
Urban planner Mr Percy Toriro concurred that the city has failed to manage its road system.
“The absence of a reliable mass transport system that carries many people at the same time has contributed to congestion,” he said.
He suggested that Harare should instead promote the use of conventional buses and ban or reduce reliance on 16-seater commuter omnibuses.
“In addition to that there must be time               tabled buses that enable users to plan their journeys to and from work, school or hospitals,” he said.
Another solution lies in the development of an urban rail system and the rapid commuter transportation system. South Africa has introduced the mass transportation system in Gauteng province and it paid dividends during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup finals.
The Metro trains still ferry thousands of workers to and from work every day at 30 minutes intervals.
In the afternoon, the Metro trains pass through residential areas at one-hour intervals.
Mr Toriro contends that it is time Harare prepared traffic and transport master plans, which address issues of ring roads around the city.
The master plan should cater for construction of freeways where possible.
He said the construction of the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Expressway and its diversion of traffic from the city centre was one such solution.
The master plan should encompass the extension of railway networks to suburban areas.
“If properly done this plan has potential to stimulate economic development along major transport corridors. This plan should also create more parking buildings in the CBD including bus parking ranks,” he said.
Former Harare Mayor and national hero Solomon Tawengwa at least managed to reduce the problem when he introduced one-way streets in the CBD. Subsequent councils have failed to improve on his grand plan.
National Traffic police acting spokesperson Assistant Inspector Luckmore Chakanza blames the congestion on Harare’s streets on too many cars.
He said many cars come into and leave town at almost the same time — before 8am and after 5pm — creating congestion.
According to Assistant Inspector Chakanza statistics as at December 31, 2010 reveal that there are 1,3 million registered vehicles in the country.
“Zimbabwe has more cars when compared to neighbouring Zambia with 390 000,” he added.
He said congestion was aggravated by commuter omnibus drivers who park their cars at undesignated ranks.
“For example in town, kombis rank at an illegal space especially at Noczim. The kombis and unregistered taxis are ranked on both sides of the narrow road causing congestion.
“As the police, we have been trying 100 percent to move such people to regularised ranks through an ongoing operation,” he said.
Asst Insp Chakanza said a lot has been done and they have been talking to the City of Harare to come up with a way to try and establish ranks outside the CBD so that cars do not have to come into town.
“At the same time, we encourage motorists not to just park their cars anywhere, blocking roads in the process,” he said.
He added that electricity outages were also of great concern as during power cuts, motorists scramble to get into intersections first and do not give way to others. “But we usually deploy two police officers to control traffic in such cases,” he revealed.
He warned motorists that it was an offence to enter an intersection when the exit point was not clear. Motorists risk a spot fine of up to US$10 if caught on the wrong side of the law.
Mr Brian Magwiza, who has lived in Harare for more than 50 years, shares Mr Toriro’s views.
He said the demise of Zupco was responsible for the congestion in the city.
“The conventional buses used to ferry up to 75 people and they would stick to timetables.
“There was no congestion back then as even some people who owned cars would use the buses to and from work,” he said.
He noted that there was less congestion in the 70s because motorists would leave their cars on the city’s outskirts.
Shuttle buses would carry shoppers from their residential areas to the CBD and drop them at designated points.
“For example, people would park their cars at Queensdale Shopping Centre and board shuttle buses that would rank there every Saturday morning.
“The buses would ferry them to and from town and this resulted in less congestion on the streets,” he said.
He said the deregulation of the transport industry that saw new players coming in could also have led to the problems we face today.
“Some new players that came and took over traditional Zupco routes but disappeared in less than two years are also responsible for problems we see today. Some started off with conventional buses but later moved to smaller models meaning more cars on the roads,” he argued.
Another social commentator, Mr Albert Nhamoyebonde, believes the major cause of congestion is that there is little or no business taking place in industrial areas and all cars come to the CBD.
As the drama continues to unfold on the streets every weekday, brilliant proposals and suggestions of how to improve the situation are probably stashed on a dusty shelf in one of the offices at the City of Harare. Or is it simply a case of the “unavailability” of funds? Only time will tell.
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