Home News Elevators to be installed at EBD pedestrian overpasses
Government will soon be installing elevators at the five pedestrian overpasses along the East Bank Demerara (EBD) corridor, according to Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson.
During a special programme on the State-owned radio station last week, Minister Patterson disclosed that the lifts have been procured and have already arrived from Sweden. There will be 10 lifts, with two being installed on each side of the five pedestrian overpasses located at Houston, Eccles, Peter’s Hall, Providence and Diamond.
While the Public Infrastructure Minister did not indicate when the installation process would commence, he did note that it would take about one week for each overhead structure.
“Obviously, we have to install them … It’s just a question of coordination and when that’s finish, we would hope that every Guyanese (will use the overpasses),” Patterson posited.
Since the overpasses have been completed and accessible to the public, there have been and continue to be mixed feelings about the structures, with some taking advantage of the facility while others find the stairs too tedious and time consuming, opting instead to quickly dash across the road.
However, Minister Patterson implored pedestrians to use the overpasses as they would guarantee their safety.
“We still continue to have too many road fatalities, (and) pedestrians are still a high percentage of these accidents and fatalities, so we have to do better. I’ll make this call right off the bat that we do better,” he urged.
In its last monthly update on traffic statistics, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) had reported that a total of six pedestrians were killed on the country’s roadways by the end of February 2018.
Meanwhile, in March, there were two more pedestrian fatalities; however, again none of these occurred on the East Bank corridor.
Nevertheless, the Public Infrastructure Minister went on to highlight that the overpasses were proving to be “tremendously popular”, particularly among the young and the elderly, who were initially among the target groups.
“I mean I must compliment the young persons, they use it far more than the middle-aged… it is proving very popular and very, very successful… But we will continue our public awareness exercises. It’s a facility there for you to use, it only take you 10 seconds longer than trying to dodge the traffic and it will guarantee you 100 per cent safety,” the Minister noted.
Construction of the pedestrian overpasses commenced mid-last year and was mostly completed by December 2017. The overpasses were intended not only to reduce the high level of road carnage and enhance public safety, but to also eliminate traffic congestion along the East Bank Road, which is said to be the busiest in the country.
The contract for the overpasses at Houston, Eccles and Peter’s Hall were awarded to B&J Civil Works for the sum of US$1,034,326. Meanwhile, there were separate contracts for the Providence and Diamond overpasses which were both awarded to S Jagmohan Hardware Supplies and Construction Services to the tune of US$364,247 and US$364,727 respectively.
Trinidadian supervision firm – RM Engineering Limited – was recruited to oversee the construction of the overpasses.