Road Median Management: Can urban road medians help cool the cities?

From ornamental planting and tree cover to trading, road medians are serving different purposes across major cities in the country.

A visit to sections of the Pokuase-Ablekuma Highway in Accra shows some medians covered in vegetation while others serve as trading points or have become dumping spots.

Some residents say that although road medians may be recognised for beautifying the environment, they are nothing more than that.

Others also believe that they are essential and must be maintained.

The situation therefore raises a broader question about whether Accra and other urban cities are making the best use of the spaces already incorporated into the road network, especially at a time when urban development is putting pressure on green spaces.

Executive Director for the Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy, Benjamin Nsiah, says it is essential.

"Beautification is critical. Aside from beautification, I also think that road median vegetation is able to sequester a lot of carbon, especially from internal combustion engines. I also think that they can even support our national electricity system, because when trees are almost everywhere, your power demand reduces, because it makes sure that your household is always cool, so you conserve energy."

For Civil Engineer Ing. Kwabena Bempong, road medians serve important civil engineering functions.

"The primary engineering reason for the median, for instance, you have a dual carriageway, the median is there to separate those two carriageways. It also provides a refuge for pedestrians who cross the road. The other reason is also that it provides space for utilities and for road furniture. So, you can have maybe the streetlights positioned there."

He maintains that its benefits will depend on proper design and maintenance.

"The vegetation prevents headlamp glare and reduces the heat stress. Environmentally, we also know it gives a better carbon footprint. It also helps to soak in rainfall. Road furniture is an important part of the road because it communicates with us. So, if your median is just covered, then there will be no communication, and that could lead to accidents. The other thing is also when they are not well-maintained, sometimes they get into the road space. So that reduces the width of the road."

For all these environmental benefits to be balanced against road safety considerations, Transport and Road Safety expert Dr Godfred Akyea-Darkwah says vegetation on medians must be regularly maintained to ensure it does not obstruct visibility or compromise the safety of motorists and pedestrians.

According to him, the use of medians for trading, waste disposal and other activities also raises concerns about enforcement and the responsibilities of the authorities tasked with managing these spaces.

"It does not affect the safety of road users. It does not affect visibility. Visibility for what? For us to declare medians as not good. They are good. The median is not for a refuse dump and for farming. They should be arrested. Look, in some places where the median is too large, we can create a certain place for people to go and sit there and relax under the hot sun. But for you to farm, or to dump refuse there, the perpetrators should quickly be arrested. And they should stop them from doing that. It is the duty of the district assemblies and municipal assemblies."

Now, the challenge extends beyond planting big trees in the middle of the road.

It includes identifying who is responsible for maintaining the medians, ensuring that inappropriate uses are addressed and adopting landscaping practices that are suitable for the road environment.

And as Accra faces growing pressure from urbanisation and climate-related challenges, experts opine that better management of existing road medians could form part of a wider urban greening strategy.

By Samuel Yeboah Adams

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