Scaling Up Safe Street Designs In Ethiopia

There are various weak elements in the Addis National and Local Road Safety system – as identified by the project partners. These are summarized here:1. At the national level, the Ministry for Urban Development recently released a National Street Design Guideline. The designs are decent – however, efforts on disseminating this document to city level has been very limited, particularly to secondary and tertiary cities. 2. On the local level, there are various design guidelines informing the implementation of infrastructure, however, these are not coordinated and integrated on a single platform. These guides are: the Addis Ababa City Roads Authority (AACRA) Design Manuals, the Addis Ababa City Pedestrian Walkway and Crossings Design Guide, and the Addis Ababa City Bikeway Design Guide. Existing documents offer guidance on many aspects of the design of the NMT environment. However, existing documentation is fragmented, and in the case of inconsistencies, it is not clear which guideline should be followed. Specific documents often present multiple design possibilities, without offering a clear indication of the preferred design alternative. In addition, the documents are extensive, collectively comprising hundreds of pages, making it difficult for users to distil the core guidance on basic elements of footpaths, pedestrian crossings, cycle track, and intersection design. Going forward, and as part of this project, it is proposed to offer a single platform where all of the most up-to-date standards can be obtained, employing an interactive online format to help users navigate to the required topic. In addition, a clear process for design review is required to ensure that the guidelines are applied in all projects and that exceptions to the adopted standards are carefully reviewed.