Interventions to improve highway crossing safety
A way to improve the usability of highway crossings and improve access to services and public spaces
Providing safe and accessible crossings for all citizens
The growing motorisation of African cities has resulted in an expansion of urban highways and major roads. While these developments offer quicker routes for drivers, they often fragment the urban landscape, dividing communities and separating essential services on either side of the roads. This fragmentation reduces access for non-motorised road users, leading to longer journeys and increasing the risk of road accidents for active mobility users, including women, children, the elderly, and individuals with limited mobility.
Highway and ring road projects frequently include multi-level crossing points, such as pedestrian bridges or tunnels. However, these measures prioritise motorised mobility and undermine the experience for pedestrians, micro-mobility users, and other vulnerable road users.
As a result, there is a risk of undesirable and hazardous behaviours, such as pedestrians crossing highways at unmarked locations or communities creating informal crossing points to better meet their accessibility needs.
Highway and ring road projects often integrate multi-level crossing points (pedestrian bridges or tunnels), a measure that prioritizes motorized mobility and undermines the user experience of pedestrians, micro-mobility users, or vulnerable road users. This might lead to undesirable and high-risk road user behaviors, such as crossing highways outside the designated crossing points, or establishing informal crossing points by the local communities to better serve their accessibility needs.
To improve the crossings' usability, safety, and suitability, a more inclusive and participatory approach is needed. Public participation is crucial in the decision-making process, helping to determine suitable crossing points, the preferred design of crossings, and any facilities needed to mitigate risks for the most vulnerable road users. Existing highways and ring roads can be reassessed from the perspective of non-motorised road users, in collaboration with local communities, to identify small interventions that could improve the current situation.
CASE STUDY
Pilot ring road pedestrian tunnels upgrading, Izbit Khayrallah in Cairo
Izbit Khayrallah is one of Cairo’s largest unplanned areas, which is constructed on a high plateau with limited access to surrounding neighbourhoods, relying mainly on informal mobility networks.
The construction of Cairo's ring road in 1990 further isolated the area, reducing access to essential services. Most public services, including the neighbourhood’s only school, are located north of the ring road. Meanwhile, residents living to the south can only reach these services through five tunnel crossings, which have been unsafe for women and children, poorly maintained, and polluted.
In 2017, Takween Integrated Community Development, in collaboration with multiple civil society organisations, launched an initiative to upgrade these tunnels, improve access for women and children, and encourage public participation. The project was implemented in four phases:
1.
Documentation and needs assessment
3.
In-depth assessment of tunnel conditions
2.
Development of tunnel selection criteria and evaluation of intervention options in partnership with the stakeholders and the local community
4.
Participatory intervention design
The Safe Systems Approach
Within the safe systems approach, this intervention targets safe road users by participating, educating and creating solutions that work for the community and vulnerable road users.
It also encourages multi-modal mobility and shifts the focus to non-motorized mobility spaces and needs. The improvements to roads and roadside target the third layer of the safe system approach.
