Govt scraps Diamond vehicle overpass project

– cites lack of space

Efforts by the Coalition Government to address the heavy rush-hour traffic situation on the East Bank of Demerara have been thwarted, forcing them to cancel the construction of a vehicular overpass at Diamond.
In January, it was revealed that tenders for the construction of the overhead road structure were opened, while tenders for supervisory services were opened since in December 2016, and at time were being evaluated.
However, Head of the Public Infrastructure Ministry’s Work Services Group, Geoffrey Vaughn, told Guyana Times on Friday that the process had to be aborted after the Group ran into a stumbling block about five months ago.
He explained that the area which had been earmarked for the start of the overpass in the Diamond/Grove Housing Scheme was sold to the owner of a local fastfood chain, M&M – which had recently relocated further in the scheme (opposite G3 Building).
“Space was a constraint at that time because M&M now takes up that land that we had proposed to use to carry the vehicle overpass from Diamond straight onto the East Bank Road. And we weren’t aware of that, because that was reserve all the time, and apparently it was sold,” he stated.

Vaughn added, too, that the Group hit further obstacles when they realised that the East Bank Public Road end of the overpass would have landed into the compound of the mandir which is located opposite the entrance of the scheme.
According to the WSG Head, the Group was considering the viability of several other sites, but those options were not found to be feasible. Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson was quoted in an online media outlet – Newsroom – as saying that they are looking to build a second road into the scheme, with a proposed location in the vicinity of the Guyoil Gas Station.
Nevertheless, Vaughn indicated to this newspaper they are also considering other locations along the East Bank that are maybe in need of a vehicle overpass.
“We are looking to see if we get other areas which are in need of (an overpass). It may not be the same area. It’s not just doing it, we got to find areas that it is going to bring relief to people,” he pointed out.
However, the WSG Head reminded of the bypass road, funded by the Indian Government and seeking to link the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara, noting that this second link will alleviate traffic congestion on the East Bank.
“You will now be able to either use the existing East Bank road; or, if you going to the East Coast, you can use the new link – which will pass through Great Diamond going all the way through South (Ruimveldt) and getting us straight to Ogle, coming out at the Railway Embankment or main highway,” he said, while mentioning that consideration is also being given to extend the bypass road from Diamond to Timehri. “So you can actually come from Timehri and head all the way to the East Coast,” he noted.
Vaughn further added that, with the bypass road, they are looking at strategic locations that may be in need of vehicle overpasses.
However, he was quick to point out that these are all mere considerations, and not concrete proposals. The WSG Head explained that they were hoping that the vehicle overpass at the entrance of Diamond/Grove Housing Scheme would have been the model structure to determine whether other similar structures were viable on the country’s roadways.