The Freddie Kissoon – Put Conversation Tree in the Dutch cemetery

Jun 14, 2008 Freddie Kissoon

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I would think it is very unwise to employ a foreign consultant to make recommendations on the dissolution of the city’s traffic congestion. The Guyana Police Force (GPF) is capable enough of assessing the situation. The basic requirement for understanding where the bottlenecks lie is experience. A majority of motorists know where the difficulties are. The GPF has to begin the innovation process.

Last week, the Traffic Head Office did a long overdue act. It made Alexander Street in downtown Georgetown a one-way route during traffic peaks.

They say better late than never and one should be thankful for that insight. Why wasn’t that thought of before? This street lies in the bowels of the city and is always overflowing. But why Alexander Street alone? There are many headache roads like this one that cries out for an initiative from the police. Let’s travel on Irving Street. At Forshaw Street, Irving Street is connected to Vlissengen Road by a bridge. One can only turn east from Irving onto that bridge.

On Irving at Lance Gibbs Street, there is another connection with Vlissengen Road. This structure is smaller than the one at Forshaw. You can turn east on that pathway from Irving and you can turn west from Vlissengen on that same bridge. There is always confusion there.

So why not follow the logic at Forshaw? Only allow westbound traffic from Vlissengen to cross into Irving. The next stop is Crown Street where at Irving there is another crossing into Vlissengen. Again like the one at Lance Gibbs, traffic can turn east from Irving and west from Vlissengen.

This is a nightmare situation. In the rush hour, the madness upsets you. Compounding the situation is the parked customers of Survival Supermarket which is in close, physical proximity to that junction.

There is an eerie non-logic in this area. Why is it that at Forshaw Street only drivers on Irving can go into Vlissengen but Vlissengen vehicles cannot connect to Irving? And why not ease the congestion where Crown, Irving and Vlissengen meet? I am contending that this thing probably had a peculiar reason going back decades ago but now the police authorities delegated with studying the traffic situation have to rethink its existence. There are too many two-way streets that should acquire the same direction that the police have assigned Alexander Street.

Durban Street comes to mind. Parallel to Durban is Norton Street to the south and Bent Street on the north. There is a lot of traffic on Durban. Why not make Durban a one-way from morning up to the end of the rush hour each day as is the case with many other roads including New Market Street and New Garden Street?

It is time the police realize that some street routes do not make sense. You have six pathways in Alberttown running east to west. Another six are in Queenstown. Why not make each of these one-way passages since they are too small for two-way movements?

A dangerous situation has developed on the Atlantic highway (my term for the old East Coast highway) at Conversation Tree. If you travel west on the highway, you can make a left turn at Conversation Tree. That is an easy manoeuvre.

The danger comes when you make a right turn from the highway at Conversation Tree.

There is no space to travel. You come precipitously close to the East Coast trench. The reason for this is because the political authorities want to retain the moribund Conversation Tree. It had died but they have enclosed the stump and it prevents a smooth, free right-hand swing from the Atlantic Highway.

I implore both government officials and police personnel to study this junction. It is a hazardous turn. You can easily go into that trench for one fundamental reason – there isn’t the room that allows you to do a right-hand swing into the street we call Conversation Tree from Atlantic highway.

There are two options to pursue. Either you stop drivers from making that turn. Or uproot the remnants of the tree itself. I would suggest the latter.

Sentiments have no place as you provide modern necessities for a growing nation. Conversation Tree has been part of the national landscape for perhaps more than a century. But all over the world, some long-standing traditional milestones are moved to make way for human progress. In this case, the task should bring no tears because Conversation Tree died decades ago. They replaced it with a flamboyant plant but that died too.

The traffic in downtown Georgetown is out of control. It is time we remove part of the Dutch cemetery to allow Charlotte Street to connect with its western half and ease the traffic madness outside Bourda Market on Regent Street. Put Conversation Tree and the old, Dutch tombs in a neat place in the remaining section of the Dutch burial ground.

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