Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows

Jun 09, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Guyana’s latest roundabout is impressive. But it would have been much better if it was part of an overall national transportation plan aimed at solving the myriad issues of transportation, including traffic jams, parking and road safety.
Nonetheless, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure must be congratulated for the Kitty Roundabout which is located at one of the busiest road junctions.
In 2007, the PPPC administration had spent in excess of US$1M in a major deal with the Indian government to provide traffic lights. These lights helped to ease road stress and chaos at many major junctions within the country.
Ten years onwards, the traffic lights have become redundant because of the rapid increase in vehicular traffic. The massive influx of vehicles in the country meant that instead of ensuring an easier flow of vehicles at major road junctions, these traffic lights are attracting long queues.
The problem is most acute on the West Bank of Demerara at the junction to the Demerara Harbour Bridge and along the East Bank of Demerara. Police ranks have to be deployed daily to various points to help control the heavy flow of traffic, especially during peak hours. Man-hours are being lost because commuters are spending too long getting to work.
Roundabouts have become a solution to the traffic congestion. Many countries, such as Barbados, have long dispensed with traffic lights in favour of roundabouts. Trinidad and Tobago is moving to do the same. Therefore, there is, within our backyard, the experience of deploying roundabouts to help alleviate the problem of traffic build-up at junctions.
Roundabouts are one way of doing away with traffic lights. It allows for the quicker movement of traffic in all directions at busy junctions. It would be inexplicable if the Ministry of Public Infrastructure were to place traffic lights at Guyana’s latest roundabout. That would defeat the very purpose of having a roundabout.
The Kitty Roundabout is operating quite smoothly so far. Guyanese drivers are among the most undisciplined in the world, but they will recognize that it is better to stick to the rules when using the roundabout, because everyone benefits since there is less waiting time and less build-up of traffic.
The Kitty Roundabout is not Guyana’s only roundabout. There is one right in the heart of the city, and it was hoped that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure would have followed its Kitty development with developing the roundabout at the junction of Church Street, Main Street and Avenue of the Republic. That particular roundabout has long had traffic lights. A design similar to that of the Kitty Roundabout would help alleviate the weekday traffic congestion in that area.
Instead, roundabouts are going to be established at two other locations. The ad hoc approach to roundabouts is self-defeating. What Guyana needs is a comprehensive national traffic management plan for the entire country, one that goes beyond the mere management of road-traffic flow.
The plan must fix other road problems. There is a problem with parking, and not just in Georgetown. Many streets in villages and wards are extremely narrow. And with more and more persons buying vehicles, many vehicles have to be parked at nights on these narrow roads, thereby constricting the flow of traffic. Parking will have to be banned on some roadways because of their narrowness, and some of these roads will have to be converted into one-way streets.
A comprehensive road traffic plan has to address the issue of safety. There has been a dramatic decline in head-on accidents on Carifesta Avenue since a median was installed. This is one of the engineering solutions needed for major public roads where head-on collisions often involve fatalities. The installation of medians separating opposite-flowing traffic will drastically reduce road accidents on these highways.
The Ministry of Public Infrastructure should, where possible, install medians on all of Guyana’s main public roads. It is the best investment which can be made to save lives and reduce accidents.
In as much, therefore, that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure deserves congratulations for developing the Kitty Roundabout, it needs to examine the larger transportation concerns within the framework of a national transportation plan. Otherwise, its approach will end up involving ad hockery.

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