THE TRAFFIC SITUATION IS BECOMING UNMANAGEABLE

Oct 24, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Every morning, and again in the afternoons there is a peak period during which the Demerara Harbour Bridge is reduced to one way traffic. Unless this is done, the lines of vehicles slowly wending their way over and across the bride would stretch for miles on either side.
The four-lane highway on the East Bank was constructed to alleviate the traffic bottlenecks primarily caused by the large numbers of vehicles which traverse the Harbour Bridge each day. It has served a useful purpose.
However, with more and more persons now owning their own vehicles, and with more and more persons from the West Demerara region having to come to the city to work and conduct business, a nightmare situation is developing. The traffic situation on the bridge and on the East Bank is returning to the stage where it used to be before the construction of the four lane East Bank public road.
We should have learnt from other countries that have undergone a similar situation in respect to motor vehicles. In countries like Trinidad, for example, as more and more persons became vehicle owners, there was a need to accommodate greater numbers of vehicles entering Port of Spain each day.
Flyovers were built and a new priority road was constructed but these never were able to keep pace with the increased flow of traffic during rush hours in the mornings and in the afternoons. In fact, today we have a situation where persons living outside of the capital and working in the city have to leave home as early as 6 am in order to meet their eight o clock deadline.
The building of roads and flyovers has not solved the traffic problem in Trinidad and similarly, the building of a new bridge and another road on the East Bank, even if that were possible, is not going to solve the traffic problems.
Measures to reduce the importation will also not assist. As incomes are increasing in Guyana, those who formerly travelled by bicycle, motor cycles and public transportation are graduating to owning their vehicles and this thirst cannot be easily quenched as experience has shown in so many other countries.
To add to the traffic woes on the East Bank of Demerara are the many housing developments that have sprung up in that area. Even though the Diamond Housing Scheme is not fully occupied, each morning there are traffic problems developing which are causing delays for persons who live within that scheme and further south on the East Bank of Demerara.
With the government proposing to sell some 33 acres of land to a private developer, this will mean more houses and thus greater pressures for the traffic cops who have their work cut out each morning.
In Georgetown, the situation is closely approaching chaos in certain sections of the city during peak hours. The city simply cannot cope with the large numbers of vehicles traversing its streets. Thus, what may seem to be a problem restricted to the East Bank is in fact a much wider problem.
The solution therefore has to encompass reduced travel and the only way to achieve this would be through improved planning. One of the first steps that need to be taken would be to halt all new housing developments on the East Bank corridor.
What this means is not stopping persons from building but rather stopping the expansion of housing into new areas until such time as a road can be built linking Diamond to Georgetown, something that will take about five years.
In the meantime, there is a need to do something about the traffic situation. The second approach would be to seek to create greater employment in West Demerara so as to reduce the number of persons seeking employment within the city.
While there has been a great deal of talk about Guysuco moving into refined and processed sugar, little is being said about that corporation having a commercial arm utilising the West Demerara estates.
Alternatively, the government should seek to create a few industrial estates commercial and entertainment zones so as to reduce the number of persons having to come to the city for jobs and business.
The increase in commercial activity in the city is attracting greater numbers of persons. One solution to this would be to re-implement a zoning system within the city in which there will be restrictions on commercial activities in residential areas. This will help.
The government needs to look at this problem as a long term issue but it needs to examine it immediately because the situation is fast becoming unmanageable.

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