Commuters traveling to and from work in this country mostly find it extremely difficult to reach their destination due to heavy traffic congestions which has become the norm.
This can be observed all over the country when people are going to work in the morning and when they close from work in the evening. The roads all over the country are littered with stranded commuters.
In order to reach a destination which should be a thirty minute drive, one may spend up to two or more hours. This is obviously costing individuals and government a lot of money. An incredible amount of time is wasted which translates in to waste of money and resources.
The main cause of these problems, it is believed, is the inadequacy of roads. `Unfortunately, there is mainly only one road which comes from Banjul leading to Westfield and then onward to Brikama. When people are going to or from work therefore, there is always traffic congestion on the roads.
In addition to the delays and time lost, this problem is also causing an increment in the number of road accidents some of which are fatal. The problem of congestion is not unique to the Gambia but common in most West African countries.
Many of these countries however are beginning to find solutions to the problem by building more roads. It is high time the Gambia also started looking for ways to solve this problem by building more roads which should be wider.
If a research were to be conducted on the amount of time, and thus money, which is lost everyday due to these transportation problems, it would reveal startling figures which may galvanize the government departments to seek solutions to address the issue as quickly as possible.
