THE Ministry of Public Infrastructure will be spending significant sums of money during 2016 on a number of initiatives geared at increasing road safety measures.Recognising the number of vehicular accidents that occur as a result of either a lack of traffic lights or inadequate street lighting, corrective measures will ensue.

This will see $72M being spent on highway lighting to be erected at Linden, Coverden, Corentyne and Ogle.

Additionally $1.1M will be spent to replace 37 high pressure sodium vapour street lamps; $1.4M will be spent to install 65 LED street lamps; and 300 defective photo sensors on street lights will be replaced at a cost of $18.2M.

A sum of $28.6M will be spent to install traffic lights at critical areas that are prone to accidents. Some of the areas under consideration include the vicinity of CARICOM Building; the 5-Corner Junction in Linden; and at Corriverton in East Berbice.

Not only is the Ministry installing street lights or traffic lights, but road safety mechanisms are now an added feature of road and highway projects.

The cost of works to be done on the Vreed-en-Hoop to Hydronie corridor, touted as the ministry’s fourth road project, includes a US$2.5M sum which caters for a School Road Safety Education Programme. This project will see the West Coast of Demerara being widened to a three-lane highway at best, to accommodate pedestrians. The shoulders of the roads will also include a bus lane for the safe discharging of passengers. Sidewalks will be constructed to ensure that pedestrians and motorists no longer would have to compete for space on the road.
This safety initiative will also be seen in Corriverton, Region 6, where a pedestrian sidewalk will be constructed to improve road safety.

An amount of five billion dollars ($5.0B) will be invested into the reconstruction of Sheriff Street, and will facilitate improved traffic safety features, including pedestrian overhead crossings at strategic locations.

The need for these levels of investment comes as a result of the rapid growth of vehicular traffic and an existing road network which does not cater for pedestrians. The consequences of this mismatch are many, including frustration of all road users; lost time and productivity due to delays; and frequent accidents, many of them deadly.

These investments will be supported by a Sustainable Urban Transport Plan which includes, among other things, a traffic model for Georgetown, a parking management plan, regularisation of mini-bus operations, provision of public transport facilities, and the use of public transport and non-motorised modes in the most congested areas.

The 2016 investments will build on what were done during 2015, which saw the repainting of traffic signs and the maintenance and erection of traffic lights and street lights.

(Government Information Agency)