Traffic congestion in Ghana’s urban centres costs the national economy an estimated Ghana cedis (GH¢) 4.5 billion annually in lost working hours, wasted fuel and stress-driven productivity decline, according to a policy brief released this week by Glima Research, a Ghanaian research and consulting firm.
The report, titled The Cost of Gridlock: A Policy Brief on Ghana’s Urban Traffic Crisis, identifies Accra as the primary source of the economic damage, warning that the situation is escalating rather than stabilising as urban population growth outpaces road and transport infrastructure capacity. It was co-authored by lead research analyst Andy Sevordzi, geodetic engineer Franklin Owusu-Kwakye, statistician Yussif Mohammed and biochemist Rudolph Djirackor.
Time lost in traffic accounts for approximately GH¢3.2 billion of the total annual loss, representing 71 per cent of the overall figure. Fuel wasted by vehicles idling in congestion contributes GH¢434 million, roughly 10 per cent, while productivity losses attributable to stress and fatigue incurred during commutes account for GH¢815 million, or 18 per cent of total estimated losses.
The research used the heavily congested Madina to 37 Military Hospital corridor in Accra as its primary case study. Data modelling on the corridor was then scaled nationally using Glima’s traffic multiplier model. On the Madina-37 corridor alone, congestion-induced fatigue reduces effective daily productivity by approximately 30 minutes per commuter, translating into an annual output loss of GH¢72.8 million for that single route. Other severely affected arteries including Spintex Road, Mallam-Kasoa and the Circle to Achimota route face comparable or worse conditions during peak hours.
The environmental consequences compound the economic damage. Vehicles idling in Accra’s gridlock generate approximately 73,000 metric tons of excess carbon dioxide emissions annually, a volume the report equates to eliminating the climate benefit of three million trees each year.
The findings carry particular relevance as government implements its Big Push Infrastructure Programme, which has allocated GH¢30.8 billion, equivalent to approximately 2.8 billion United States dollars (USD), in the 2026 budget for roads, bridges, ports and logistics corridors. The allocation, more than double the GH¢13.8 billion provided in 2025, targets arterial, regional and rural roads as well as strategic cross-border corridors. Roads currently carry more than 90 per cent of Ghana’s passenger and freight traffic, leaving the network under structural strain from demand that has consistently outgrown expansion investment.
The Glima Research report said the current crisis reflects a long-standing pattern of reactive rather than anticipatory infrastructure planning. It argued that sustainable solutions require a comprehensive multi-pronged approach that accounts for future growth, not merely current pressure.
Proposed immediate interventions include widening critical road segments along major congested routes, upgrading inner-city and feeder roads to redistribute pressure from primary highways, deploying smart adaptive traffic signal systems at key intersections and gravelling or concreting alternative routes through residential areas to create viable bypass options.
Structural long-term measures recommended by the report include decentralising government services and major business centres away from central Accra to reduce travel demand, expanding mass transit options and developing secondary commercial hubs in Tema, Kasoa and Ashaiman to absorb growth that is currently concentrating congestion in the capital.
The research said urban mobility investment can no longer be treated as discretionary given the scale of losses already being absorbed. It described road and transport infrastructure as a high-return economic priority whose cost of neglect is measurable, growing and avoidable.
