Every day, thousands of commuters who traverse the East Coast of Demerara roadway are woefully inconvenienced because of the snail-paced traffic. This is due to the ongoing road expansion project and despite the East Coast having a vital secondary road in the Railway Embankment, it is still saddled with heavy traffic build-up which worsens extensively during peak hours.
Travel time is extended often making workers and schoolchildren unavoidably late. To try and prevent such tardiness, though no fault of theirs, they are forced to rise earlier. With young ones attending school in the city and other parts along the route, it has become extremely challenging to sustain such a routine. Fatigue then becomes a factor directly impacting frame of mind for learning. Employers are also challenged to remain flexible on adherence to promptness by their employees.
Naturally, hours are lost, negatively impacting productivity. Frustration will, therefore, increase as construction prolongs. Getting emergency treatment for the sick or injured, response to a fire and to the airports are also arduous endeavours within the current circumstances.
Clearly, it’s a price paid for development. This is not unique to the East Coast and residents throughout are not oblivious of the inconvenience that would result as improvement is undertaken. That said, the magnitude of the inconvenience could have been reduced with better management of the project.
It is assumed that a thorough review was done to holistically assess the realities of the traffic situation and all aspects of diversion prior to commencement of the project. Assuming that, some form of a roadmap should have been derived, taking into consideration access and suitability of detour roads and placement of Traffic Police to ensure a sustained efficient flow.
Some detour roads are very narrow and pose serious challenges to allow two lanes of traffic. Again, it is assumed that was taken into consideration and rehabilitative works done in preparation.
Given the realities of the daily horrendous traffic situation on the East Coast, questions pertaining to the execution of the assumed processes in terms of actuality and thoroughness, abound. Even if there were some deficiencies in that regard in the beginning, the expectation would be for the contractor and the related authority to swiftly reassess in the face of what unfolds every day.
In addition to that, in such situations, it is expected that commuters’ concerns are heeded and updates and advisories, which are designed to ease the challenges, are provided in a timely manner. This was clearly lacking when the Public Infrastructure Ministry recently paved Alexander Street between South and North Roads during the day when it is always rush hour in the city.
That was a much-needed project, and the Ministry’s actions were well-intended and welcomed. However, failure to adequately and timely inform of closures and alternative routes led to chaos in an already-heavily congested area. Long hours of traffic build-up were compounded by the one-way designation of nearby streets.
This raises the old tired question of why some of these projects cannot be done at nights. When pressed for an explanation in the Alexander Street instance, the response was that the work could have only been done when the workers are available. That strongly suggests that everything else was basically in place to facilitate the works in the nights. With regard to workers’ availability, that’s a simple question of management. Schedules can be readjusted to suit; similarly for works on the East Coast.
The volume of traffic on the country’s roadways cannot be underestimated and taken for granted; similarly, people’s time and their convenience. It has been reported that the contractor and the Police are to meet soon to discuss possible remedies to the congestion on the East Coast with the hope of bringing much-needed relief to commuters.
While there is some level of insulation in the adage of “better late than never”, it again brings into question, why now and not earlier or even before the works began. One would hope that it was not a case of commuters being taken for granted before this proposed meeting as what seemingly transpired in the Alexander Street scenario.
It is also been reported that the long-awaited East Bank-East Coast road link will commence in July 2019. The belief is that this project, which will provide an alternative route that will ease congestion, was agreed on a few years ago, the question of why until next year readily jumps out.
In many ways, these situations point to a perceived lack of capacity in prior planning and execution intended to minimise inconvenience, which to an extent is inevitable. This must be addressed and capacity built for people’s convenience cannot continue to be compromised. Maybe it should be made mandatory for the contractor to provide a plan for approval by the Ministry. Any which way, it speaks to the urgent need for that capacity to be in place.
