An assessment of the socioeconomic effects of road construction/rehabilitation in selected Local Government Areas of Cross River State

The study carried out an assessment of the socioeconomic effects of road construction and rehabilitation in selected Local Government Areas of Cross River State. One hundred and sixty copies of a structured questionnaire was administered to respondents residing around and within newly rehabilitated and constructed roads in Calabar Municipality, Ugep, Akamkpa and Abi Local Government Areas of Cross River State. Result showed that 93.1% of the respondents were conscious of road development in their areas. The result identified job creation opportunities, establishment of new businesses and increased mobility and interaction as the principal impacts of road construction. Pearson's correlation result indicated a significant relationship between road construction/rehabilitation and provision of employment opportunities (r = 0.403, ≤0.05). Bivariate regression result indicated that road construction/rehabilitation was responsible 36.4% (.364) of the change in mobility of persons and goods in the LGAs. Furthermore, One-Way ANOVA result revealed that road construction/rehabilitation facilitated mobility of persons and goods (F = 90.295, ≤ 0.05). Based on the obtained results, the study suggested that more roads and by-passes should be constructed across the state in order to open up new areas for socioeconomic development as well as rehabilitate existing road network to accommodate the increasing population of vehicles and improve mobility.