Travelling between Ghana’s major economic hubs has transformed from a routine commute into a gruelling and increasingly unpredictable ordeal. For thousands of commuters, cargo operators and business owners, two of the country’s most important transport corridors, the Accra–Kumasi Highway and the Accra–Winneba Highway, have become major bottlenecks, draining productivity, disrupting supply chains and imposing mounting financial costs on the transport sector.
Journeys that were once completed within standard travel times now routinely take twice as long, leaving commuters stranded for hours in traffic and forcing transport operators to rethink how they move people and goods across the country.
The Accra–Kumasi Highway: An Economic Artery Choked by Gridlock
The Accra–Kumasi Highway is Ghana’s principal economic corridor, linking the capital to the Ashanti Region, the middle belt, the northern regions and the country’s landlocked Sahelian neighbours. It carries a substantial share of the nation’s commercial traffic, including agricultural produce, manufactured goods, fuel tankers and cross-border cargo.
Yet surging vehicle volumes, narrow single-lane sections, limited overtaking opportunities and the absence of effective bypasses have turned this strategic highway into a persistent traffic nightmare.
Major congestion points at Nsawam, Suhum, Nkawkaw and Konongo routinely transform what should be a four-hour journey into an exhausting eight-to-ten-hour trip. During weekends, festive periods and public holidays, conditions deteriorate even further, with passengers often trapped in stationary traffic for hours under intense heat and exposed to roadside emissions.
Beyond the inconvenience, the delays are steadily eroding productivity, increasing transport costs and reducing the reliability of one of Ghana’s most critical trade corridors.
The Accra–Winneba Highway: Development Amid Disruption
On the coastal corridor linking Accra to the Central and Western Regions, the challenges are of a different nature. The ongoing dualisation and expansion of the Accra–Winneba Highway promise significant long-term improvements. However, the construction phase has created severe short-term disruptions that have transformed daily commuting into a test of endurance.
Extensive diversions, unpaved temporary roads, uneven surfaces and heavy dust have slowed traffic considerably. During peak morning and evening periods, congestion around Kasoa, extending through Buduburam to the Winneba Junction, has become particularly severe as heavy-duty trucks, commercial buses and private vehicles compete for limited space along narrow temporary lanes.
While the infrastructure upgrade is expected to improve connectivity in the future, the current execution phase has significantly reduced travel efficiency for commuters and freight operators alike.
The Compounding Toll on Businesses and Logistics
The inefficiencies on these two critical highways are producing ripple effects throughout Ghana’s economy.
For logistics companies and supply chain managers, journey predictability has virtually disappeared. Perishable agricultural produce transported from the middle belt is increasingly arriving late at urban markets, with prolonged delays resulting in spoilage and direct financial losses for farmers, wholesalers and distributors.
Manufacturers operating on just-in-time inventory systems are also facing mounting challenges. Delayed deliveries of imported raw materials from the ports are disrupting production schedules, increasing idle time within factories and raising overall operating costs.
The impact on transport efficiency is equally significant. Delivery trucks that previously completed a round trip within 24 hours now often require two to three days to complete the same journey. The resulting decline in fleet utilisation effectively reduces transport capacity without reducing demand, forcing freight companies to increase charges in order to recover rising operating costs.
Escalating Fuel Bills and Maintenance Costs
For vehicle owners and commercial transport operators, including members of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the financial consequences are immediate and substantial.
Hours spent crawling through bumper-to-bumper traffic significantly increase fuel consumption, with many transport operators reporting that fuel costs per journey have risen by as much as 40 per cent compared with free-flowing traffic conditions.
The physical condition of the roads is compounding the problem. The rough, unpaved diversions along sections of the Accra–Winneba Highway, together with the constant stop-and-go traffic on the Accra–Kumasi route, are accelerating vehicle wear and tear.
Suspension systems, shock absorbers, brake pads, tyres, clutches and steering components are deteriorating far more rapidly than under normal operating conditions, forcing transport operators into more frequent maintenance cycles and increasing downtime.
The surge in repair work has also driven higher demand for imported spare parts, increasing replacement costs for vehicle owners while placing additional pressure on Ghana’s foreign exchange requirements through increased imports.
As transport operators absorb these escalating fuel, maintenance and repair costs, the financial burden is inevitably passed on to consumers through higher passenger fares and increased transportation costs for goods.
Ultimately, these higher logistics costs feed directly into retail prices, placing upward pressure on inflation and complicating national efforts to improve price stability.
More Than a Transport Challenge
The challenges on the Accra–Kumasi and Accra–Winneba highways extend far beyond commuter inconvenience. They represent a growing economic constraint affecting productivity, trade competitiveness, supply chain reliability and the cost of doing business in Ghana.
Until congestion is eased through strategic infrastructure investments, better traffic management and the timely completion of ongoing road projects, these highways will continue to impose significant economic costs, not only on transport operators and businesses but also on households that ultimately bear the consequences through higher prices and longer travel times.
