Atlantic Gardens’ residents slam design of ECD road expansion

As construction works continue on the East Coast Demerara road, residents of Atlantic Gardens have complained of experiencing grave inconvenience, being unable to access either side of the roadway due to the placement of a median there.
A very disgruntled resident recently inked a letter to this publication highlighting his concerns.
“The road design seems to ignore local communities, as it does not allow for vehicles to (enter) into villages on the southern side of the road when travelling in an easterly direction. This means if someone wants to (enter) into Atlantic Gardens, he cannot do so because a concrete median is placed in the middle of the road,” the resident said.
As a result of the placement of the median, residents are now forced to drive some distance before they are able to cross the road to access the entrance to the community.

“At this time, we do not know how far east we will have to travel before we are allowed to make a U-turn, which is illegal under current traffic laws. There is sufficient space to allow for “cut outs” for turning traffic, and “cut outs” of this kind do not interrupt the flow of traffic, once drivers follow the rules. A “cut out” exists at Ogle, and there is another at UG road,” the resident argued.
When Guyana Times visited the area on Saturday, several residents related their woes as they slammed the design of the road expansion.
One resident who has living in the area for 20 years said, “It is affecting us very badly, because it got a business across the road where we go to every day, and we cannot use our vehicles or anything, we just have to walk across as well as in the night, which is very dangerous; and we have to walk back home every night.”
She explained that because of the median being placed in the middle of the road, residents are forced to take other alternatives.
“We have to go till up, next to Better Hope, so that we can come around with the vehicles; and then (as we use the other side of the road) we have to go till by Massy to come back,” another resident complained.
Another resident, whose only name was given as Gangaram, complained, “It’s inconvenient, because we have to go all the way around to get in here.”
According to this resident, the median was placed there just about two weeks ago.
A 59-year-old woman said, “I travelling to go to work every day, and it’s very hard for me. Yesterday (Friday) I stand up on the road one hour and a half to get transportation…I do more than one job, and it’s hard for me.”
A pregnant woman who said she has been living in the area for three years also argued that the Government and the contractors have a wrong approach to the situation, as they had never informed residents that they would be inconvenienced.
According to her, “It is very, very inconvenient getting from work, because we have to drive all the way to where the Massy Supermarket is constructing, and turn back to come home… In the morning it’s very confusing. I don’t understand how come they are making roads and there are no notices… The other day I almost missed my work because of the road closure.”
Another resident suggested that the contractors do additional work at nights, since the expansion project is affecting most residents on the East Coast, not only those in Atlantic Gardens.
The residents there are calling for adequate access to their community, to ease their daily hassles.
Since commencement of works to the East Coast road, several businesses have complained of losing sales, as their entrances have been barred due to the ongoing works.
The US$50.2million road expansion project has two components; one features a four-lane expansion of the road from Better Hope to Annandale, and the other caters for an upgrade to the existing two-lane road from Annandale to Belfield.
The project is expected to be completed by 2019. (Davina Ramdass)