THE Demerara Harbour Bridge has issued a notice that from April 29th to May 5th, 2012, the bridge would be operating a single-lane traffic. Such an intervention is critical and necessary for the continued maintenance of this vital medium of transportation for those of us living on the West Coast/Bank of Demerara and the East Bank of Essequibo and its environs.

However, our experience at the DHB this morning (April 25, 2012) leaves some cause for concern. I joined the line queuing to cross the bridge from the West Coast of Demerara at 6:58 am and arrived at the eastern end of the bridge at 7:42 am. That is, it took almost 45 minutes to cross the bridge at a time when the western end was opened to double-lane traffic and the eastern end was closed to traffic.

Initially, one could not understand what was the reason for such a horrible build up where there were five lines of vehicles on the main road leading to the bridge and one line from the old road, all struggling to merge into two lanes on the bridge. This was all taking place under the watchful eyes of the police officers who are faithfully present there every morning to control the flow of traffic.

I must say in recent times the police and management of the DHB have managed to put systems in place to reduce the traffic jam at peak hours significantly.

However, I am not sure if the force was unprepared for a situation such as this morning and hence the chaos. The reason for the terrible jam was what appeared to be an accident on the bridge. There was a car parked in one lane with its side damaged and a little distance away was a parked fire truck.

Therefore upon approaching both vehicles, the two lanes of drivers going east had to merge back into one lane. With the chaos that resulted from this, one can only hope that a system is worked out for next week’s continuous single-lane traffic.

I therefore wish to call on ALL drivers to abide by the laws, regulations and systems that would be put in place to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic during this time.
Further, I wish to call on the Guyana Police Force to ensure that strict measures are in place to control the flow of traffic.