By Dixon Bwalya –

VEHICULAR traffic management is a major design failure at the relatively new Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola whenever an activity is taking place at this stadium as was recently the case when the Jehovah’s Witnesses held their annual convention during the week-end commencing on Friday, August 22, 2014.
While the idea of constructing the stadium in Ndola was welcomed by all Ndola residents the end product, however, has become a major source of frustration, has created a spot for potential traffic accidents and would be a hindrance in an effort to provide assistance to emergencies that may occur at this stadium.
These design deficiencies were initially highlighted in a preliminary architectural critique carried under this column and became evident from the first football game played in this stadium on May 19, 2012 but this matter has remained unattended to by those responsible probably waiting for life to be lost before they can act decisively.
The genesis of this design failure concerning vehicular traffic management stems from the initial choice of the site for the location of the new stadium as well as the location of the entry points straight from the dual carriage way coupled with provision of inadequate car parking space.
The Levy Mwanawasa Stadium is located very close to the Ndola/Kitwe dual carriage way such that the lane on the way to Kitwe does not have shoulders which may be used for stopping or parking clear off the main road because the concrete storm water drain channels are located right at the edge of the lane, the right location would have been to push the stadium away from the dual carriage way towards the crematorium to create a separation between the stadium infrastructure and the road, this arrangement would also have allowed room for any future road expansion as the need arises.
The entry and exist points into and from the stadium are straight from the dual carriage way without even a bypass to allow vehicles move away from the main road which contributes to creation of traffic jams sometimes bringing all vehicles on this road to a standstill.
Parking inside the stadium premises seem to be inadequate whenever there is an activity at the stadium and therefore those attending, say, the Jehovah’s’ Witnesses annual convention were forced to park their vehicles either on the edges of the road or on the island between the lanes thereby blocking the road for vehicles travelling in the Kitwe/Luanshya direction.
Safety design considerations are extremely important in the design and construction processes of buildings especially sports facilities accommodating large numbers of people with a high likelihood of emotional riots.
In recent developments the world has experienced increased terrorist activities which now open up possibilities of stadia being possible targets for these activities; it has become imperative to ensure that safety standards at any newly constructed stadium must conform to the latest safety regulations dealing with emergency egress from a stadium.
Ensuring that spectators are cleared out of the stadium in the shortest possible time is one such consideration; there may also be need that access into the stadium is made possible where assistance is required for those who may be injured and in need of medical attention or access by fire fighters.
In the United Kingdom it is recommended that escape time from any seat, in all new stadia constructed of concrete and steel, must be no more than eight minutes.
The requirement in Italy is that in a stadium it must be possible to clear the seating areas of all spectators in five minutes, and then clear the entire building structure of spectators in a further five minutes. However, the true and practical requirement is that spectators must be able to move from their seats to a place of temporary safety and thereafter move to a place of permanent safety.
Now assuming for instance that some kind of a riot erupts within the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium an area of temporary safety will be away from the entire stadium complex to may be somewhere within Hillcrest residential area.
The current layout at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium when there is an activity is such that escape from the stadium under these circumstances may be virtually impossible because escape routes would be blocked by the chaotic parking of vehicles; the results in such a situation are predictable.
If it is then admitted that yes indeed vehicular traffic management is a major problem at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium and since the stadium is now a three dimensional physical reality which cannot be “cut and pasted” on another site then efforts ought to be made to examine other options and solutions to resolve this problem.
This problem of traffic jams is an inconvenience to Ndola residents and any negative consequences of this design defect will most likely be felt by Ndola residents it follows therefore that the search for the solution ought to be seriously spearheaded by the local authority for the sake of its residents.
There is a combination of approaches which may mitigate this matter; the first is to redesign the access points such that the current access roads from the dual carriage way are closed permanently from vehicular and pedestrian entry apart from, may be, one access gate to be used absolutely for emergences only.
If an exception is made to allow pedestrians only to access the stadium directly from the dual carriage way we know the confusion that will be created by the mini bus brotherhood and the “Spacio” operators.
Since there is not sufficient space to create a bypass road running parallel to the dual carriage way which would be used to separate vehicles coming to the stadium from those proceeding to Kitwe there is need to create another access to the stadium.
The road leading to Monkey Fountain offers possibilities of accessing the stadium at the back with vehicles being completely taken off the dual carriage way, the parking area would also be located at the back of the stadium.
Ndola City Council here lies a possible solution to this puzzle; now implement it.

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