Latest update January 15th, 2025 3:21 AM
Latest News
- Sod turned for Guyana’s first School for the Deaf
- Auditors given 5 months to audit Exxon’s US$19.6B expenditure
- One confirmed dead in Bartica bike accidents
- Missing man found dead in Parika hotel
- Govt. reviewing Exxon’s application to increase oil production at 2nd and 3rd projects – Minister Bharrat
Work commences on interlink road connecting Eccles and Mocha
Kaieteur News – Work has commenced on the much-needed alternative road on the East Bank of Demerera (EBD), this time to directly connect Eccles and Mocha.
Commuters currently enjoy a diversion from the EBD bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic through the Diamond to Eccles interlink road, but this drive also requires drivers to break from the bypass onto the Mocha main road before turning off to connect to Red Road then Haags Bosch Road in Eccles.
Preparations are ongoing to connect Eccles to Mocha
Drivers who miss this connection sometimes find themselves lost in surrounding communities, on narrow, unpaved streets and must seek direction on how to reconnect and resume their commute.
Ministry of Housing officials told the Kaieteur News that preparatory work is currently taking place for the laying of the new road. The official said that this new link will not require drivers to divert from the bypass at Mocha. “This road will connect directly from Mocha to Eccles,” he said.
It was highlighted that the new road will be connected to the other phase of the bypass coming from Mandela Avenue to Eccles, Haags Bosch road. From Haags Bosch, the new link will intersect Red Road and pass-through lands that were previously slated for house lots, before connecting with Mocha and onto Great Diamond. With efforts continuing for the completion of the interlink road. Even this alternative route gets its fair share of heavy traffic particularly during rush hour. At Red Road, scores of vehicles are lined as far as the eyes could see from both Mocha and Haags Bosch roads. This build-up of traffic could be attributed to the narrow and poor-quality roads at some parts of the route.
Contactors say, however, that this direct link, between the two communities, with its widened road will be able to handle a large flow of vehicular traffic. Persons will not be required to leave the bypass thus preventing drivers from mistakenly wondering into housing schemes like Perseverance which often occurs when drivers miss the left and immediate right turn at Red Road.
While the placement of road signs would assist drivers to navigate the snake like route between Mocha and Eccles, commuters who are unfamiliar with the alternative road could opt for the route through Bagotstown which takes drivers along the Haags Bosch Road. Drivers should then turn right onto the Windsor Estate Road and continue onto Red Road. Once at Red Road, drivers must make a left then an immediate right to get onto the stretch leading to Mocha Road. Another left is to be taken before coming up on the Mocha to Diamond bypass road. Google map is also a viable option for persons seeking to utilize the Mocha to Eccles interlink road.
Some 12 contractors signed contracts for more than $13B last December for the construction of the Eccles to Great Diamond interlink road. The first phase of the EBD bypass road project, Mandela Avenue to Eccles is said to be nearing completion, while the second phase of the project, Eccles to Great Diamond was separated into 12 lots with a significant portion of that link completed.
Dubbed a “transformational initiative”, government officials have signaled much benefit from the bypass road. President Irfaan Ali, during the opening of the Eccles to Diamond phase, less than three months ago, not only stressed the traffic ease that commuters would enjoy as a result of the alternate road, but noted that the new thoroughfare was also providing access to 300 to 400 acres of land that would be used for industrial and commercial development and the provision of employment.
The President said that plans are also being made to connect Ogle on the East Coast to Eccles on the East Bank and further onto Timehri. He noted however that as government works to improve this type of infrastructure, commuters must acknowledge safe road use. The President warned that state agencies such as the Housing Ministry and the police are already working on ways to keep persons safe with police outposts slated for the bypass route as well as cameras that will record drivers’ speed, whether they are wearing seatbelts and other roadway infractions.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Members of the National Assembly should exercise civility towards their peers
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The following column was published two years ago in response to the same controversy that... more
Clarifying misconceptions about the Panama Canal
Sir Ronald Sanders (Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS) By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News–... more
Weekend Cartoon
