Yabets Zerihun drove a passenger from the Saris to the Laphto area around 3PM last week.

As he passed the area commonly referred to as Arba Meter, a giant trench appeared in front, forcing him to slam the brakes and prevent the car from tipping over.

"It came out of nowhere," he said.

The young man in his mid-20s works as a driver through online taxi-hailing companies and is familiar with most roads in the city. He was using Google Maps and did not anticipate a ditch suddenly appearing on a route he had passed through a few months ago.

He claims the absence of street lights and the dark misty, rainy night increased the likelihood of an accident. The sudden manoeuvre that left the passenger and Yabets flabbergasted was expected as no signs on the road indicated an ongoing construction was ahead.

"If there were a sign, I would have been more cautious," Yabets told Fortune.

Flooded streets during the rainy season, half-finished construction sites muddying the roads and incomplete infrastructure projects becoming hurdles to movement are frequent in the capital.

The mismatched pace between different infrastructure development bureaus undermine the intended utility of projects with newly paved roads usually carved out by cranes to maintain drainage systems or place steel poles. However, the apparent disregard for placing a warning sign actually poses a danger to citizens.

The responsibility of putting up signs that indicate obstacles that could impede the smooth flow of traffic ahead falls on whoever is undertaking construction in an area, according to Birahun Kuma, communication director of the Addis Abeba Traffic Management Bureau.

"They should follow safety protocols and put up signs," he told Fortune.

Birhanu admits increased coordination between public infrastructure developers is needed, although a council that seeks to integrate stakeholders' efforts to improve road safety exists.

A study on infrastructure governance and causes of poor sectoral coordination between several sectors in Addis Abeba reveals that administrations and policymakers pay meagre attention to the interdependencies of infrastructures.

The study by Mahlet Yilma in 2018 indicated institutional and financial governance arrangements and regulatory frameworks needed to be more effective and suitable for a multi-actor system.

According to the study, the relationship of multiple sectors was found to significantly influence the infrastructure development and service provision in the capital. As the country expands its road network, contentions involving delayed follow-through from accompanying infrastructures such as telecom lines, electrical grids and drainage systems were observed in other cities.

The effort to unify construction timetables between the Ethiopian Roads Administration, Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU), Ethiotelecom and Water & Sewage Authority appears to be unsuccessful.

Mohammed Abdurahman, head of the Ethiopian Roads Administration, revealed that sudden renovations and upgrades created delays in the smooth road construction despite initial plans by infrastructure bureaus to integrate construction schedules.

The newly appointed official presented the Administration’s nine-month performance report to Parliament last week. He took the leadership role following his predecessor Habtamu Tegegn’s appointment as the Minister of Mines a few months ago.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) remarked the total length of road networks in the country reached 165,000Km in June, with the Administration building over 5,000Km of concrete asphalt. The Administration has been laying out the national transport grid for over 60 years and currently has over 570 concurrent road projects.

Dejene Fikadu, the deputy head, says the institutions attempt to integrate their plan during road design and construction stages. He said the final months of any fiscal year primarily involve efforts to coordinate schedules between government agencies despite gaps in execution.

"We understand that budgetary constraints affect timely execution on their end as well," he told Fortune.