Topic: “The effects of road traffic congestion on residential decision- making of inhabitants of the city of Accra- A case study of communities along three congested routes” Transportation is essentially a response to the mobility needs of people, and this must be done in a timely fashion in order for people to realize its full benefits. Consequently, transportation plays a crucial role in the socio-economic and politico-cultural development of people and their communities. However, there are some related problems
(such as congestion, mobility gaps, urban sprawl, and emissions amongst others) that come with it.
In Ghana, transportation is almost synonymous with road transport as it is the major means by which peoples’ mobility needs are answered on daily basis. Road traffic congestion in the city of Accra has almost become an’ acceptable norm’ since residents have to live with this phenomenon every passing day of their lives. The factors responsible for this trend are as follows: growth in the population of Accra over the last
15 years (and this has been estimated to double in the next 20 years) associated with a continuing trend of reduction in population density; expansion in built-up area; growth in per capital income (which has also been estimated to have increased five folds over the last 15 years) with a concomitant increase in car ownership. Currently over 70% of major roads in Accra and Kumasi-the two biggest cities in the country- are said to be congested and should the afore-stated trend continue, this may get worse. More than 70% of motorized person trips in Accra depend on ‘tro-tro’ (converted minibus), which uses only
30% of the available road space, but cars and taxis which carry only 30% of the person trips in the city uses almost 60% of the road space. This situation compounds the plight of residents in the city as they would have to battle with the issue of long travel time and delays, which lead to a compromise of the timely fashion with which transportation is expected to response to the mobility needs of the people in the afore-stated cities.
One of the principal objectives of this study therefore would be to investigate the extent to which congestion influences peoples’ decision as to which neighborhoods they choose to live in and where they choose to situate businesses vis-à-vis the traffic congestion in the city of Accra. The study would also seek to investigate the elasticity of these decisions-making to variations in transport fares. Again, the study would also seek to find out the extent to which congestion affects and/or have affected peoples’ productivity levels and how they have been able to manage the situation. The potential prospects and problems of implementing telecommuting in order to reduce the impact of congestion in
Accra would also be investigated during this study. Recommendations would then be made to aid any future policy formulation in order to alleviate the plight of city dwellers of Accra and businesses.
In realizing these objectives, a combination of research methodologies (both quantitative and qualitative) shall be employed in order to collect the relevant data for analysis and interpretation. In selecting the sample for the study, the purposive sampling techniques shall be used. At the analysis and interpretation stage of the work, descriptive and inferential statistics would be used. GIS-T would also be employed.

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