Adding to de problem

Jul 10, 2026 Dem Boys Seh, Features / Columnists, News

(Kaieteur News) Dem boys seh the government got a new traffic management plan: if you cannot solve the traffic problem, create enough traffic that everybody does have to stay home.

One fella ask why dem putting traffic lights on Heroes Highway. The answer come quick: because after spending billions to build a highway, somebody remember that vehicles does actually have to move on it. So, the next brilliant idea is to put lights to stop them.

Dem boys seh this is like building a speedboat and then deciding the best way to control it is to tie it to a post.

The Heroes Highway was supposed to be the modern solution to Guyana’s growing traffic problems. It got wide roads, it got roundabouts, and it was supposed to allow traffic to flow. But now, instead of allowing the highway to function like a highway, every side road looking for a chance to jump into the middle of the action.

The biggest bottleneck is where the Ogle Bypass meets the Heroes Highway. The junction is creating havoc mainly because too many vehicles converging there during peak hours. But instead of building an overpass to allow traffic to flow freely, the solution was to add more turning lanes. That is like telling a man with a leaking roof to buy a bigger bucket.

Now the government wants traffic lights. Dem boys seh when those lights start changing, drivers might need to pack food, water and a good book because reaching from one end of the highway to the other could become a full-day expedition.

The problem is not that there are not enough lanes. The problem is poor design. A major highway cannot operate efficiently when every street, driveway and shortcut can pour vehicles directly onto it.

Dem boys seh the better solution is simple: keep the roundabouts, add more where necessary, restrict unnecessary access points, and build proper grade separation where traffic volumes demand it.

A highway is supposed to move traffic, not collect it. But if the planners continue this way, Heroes Highway might soon need a new name — “Heroes Parking Lot.”
And dem boys seh when the first driver stuck at a red light on a highway start asking why he ain’t moving, somebody might tell him: “Because progress got stopped at the junction.”

Talk half. Leff half.

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govt, Heroes Highway', roundabouts, traffic, traffic lights

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