No end in sight yet for East Bank traffic woes More bridge parking space to be commissioned soon By Leonard Gildarie Stabroek News July 4, 2000 Commuters hoping for an ease to the East Bank Demerara traffic woes will have to wait a while longer before a planned four-lane road becomes a reality. This is according to the Ministry of Works. When contacted recently on the project, which was to have commenced sometime around October last year, Minister Anthony Xavier through his secretary told this newspaper that plans are still underway for it. The Minister had told this newspaper last year July that funding had been identified and the construction of the four-lane highway was to have started within three months. He had pointed out that the project had been contracted in 1995 to the Trinidadian firm, NH International\Emile Elias. The highway between Peter's Hall (where the Demerara Harbour Bridge is located) and Georgetown was supposed to form part of NH International's larger contract to rehabilitate the Georgetown to Timehri Road. The construction, scheduled to have been completed in 18 months, came to an halt after the firm "demobilised" and left Guyana with the highway still uncompleted. The East Bank Demerara Public Road leading to the Timehri International Airport as well as the mining town, Linden, also links West Demerara to East Demerara, via the Demerara Harbour Bridge. Stabroek News' "Spotlight on Issues" last July focused on the chaotic situation caused by the bottleneck around the Demerara Harbour Bridge area, about 3,300 vehicles cross the bridge daily. The vehicles must compete with traffic on the already crowded East Bank public road. Anyone unlucky enough to leave home after 0700 hrs in the morning, the peak hour, will see that a 15-minute trip to the city can easily become a nightmarish one stretching an hour and a half. Not only do school children have to get to school on time; so do city workers and farmers with their produce and many others doing business in Georgetown. The rush hour along the East Bank road could see city-bound traffic queues stretching as far as half a mile on either side of the bridge. It is not unusual to see drivers in a hurry to reach Georgetown, dodging in and out of lanes, `boring de line', or a horse-cart leading a mile-long procession of motor vehicles. Car drivers have the alternative of negotiating a pot-holed road linking Republic Park to Eccles Village. This access road was once utilised by heavy vehicles attempting to escape the traffic at the harbour bridge junction. However heavy vehicles are once again forced to use the public road as a barrier has been erected over the bridge linking the two areas. Only cars can pass under the barrier. As it is, mini-buses among other larger vehicles are now forced to toe the line. In addition, drivers on the East Bank road have to contend with the growing number of potholes which have become an all too familiar sight and hazard. Increasing the woes is the congestion along the Lombard Street area which has become a point of chaos with sand trucks and other vehicles, horse-carts included, lining both sides of the already narrow street, at times adding gridlock to the slow progress of traffic. Traffic officers, sometimes numbering over five and placed strategically on the East Bank road, can be seen working hard in the hot sun attempting to bring some semblance of order to the congestion. Commuters and drivers are calling for the four-lane road to be completed as early as possible. Last year, it was conservatively estimated that there are in excess of 110,000 vehicles in the country. Of course, this figure would have risen considerably since then. The management of the Demerara Harbour Bridge is all too cognisant of the traffic situation around the bridge area, especially when the bridge is opened to allow boats through. Around this time, traffic waiting for the bridge to reopen to vehicles spills onto the East Bank public road sometimes creating gridlock. According to Rickford Lowe, Project Manager of the Bridge, a parking area south of the bridge is at present under construction and scheduled to be commissioned "very shortly." This is expected to take up some of the traffic that normally spills over to the East Bank road whenever the bridge is opened. Stabroek News understands that plans are on the table for a temporary access road leading through Bagotstown, just immediately east of the bridge. This road is expected to take some of the vehicles straight to Eccles. However, drivers are questioning the feasibility of this plan as the traffic would still have to wait at Eccles before turning onto the public road. Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today