A TEAM of senior police officers is to be present along the East Bank Demerara carriageway today where they would be reviewing a decision by the force to cease operating a third lane which has, over the years, helped to ease the early morning rush-hour traffic heading to Georgetown from south of the Demerara Harbour Bridge and West Demerara.
This was communicated to this publication by Traffic Chief Linden Isles on Wednesday morning when contacted. On Tuesday, the first official working day of this week after a prolonged holiday weekend, motorists and commuters were greeted with the long lines of traffic which were backed up for hours, causing many persons to be late for work and other engagements.
There was no notice issued by the Guyana Police Force informing the public about this move. The posture which previously existed allowed the traffic heading north of the East Bank carriageway to use the western lane as well as the western half of the eastern lane to head to Georgetown.
The traffic heading to West Demerara was also held up as the police allowed the traffic coming from West Demerara to use the entire Demerara Harbour Bridge as a two lane passage, to allow the thousands of persons heading from that region to the East Bank Demerara and Georgetown to get over the bridge.
All of that was abruptly ended without any consultation or notice to the commuters, thus throwing the entire carriageway along the West Bank in chaos. On Wednesday, the traffic Chief would not say whose decision it was to abandon the three-way traffic to Georgetown during the morning rush hour. He did, however, admit that its abandonment has seen some problems and as a consequence, the decision would be reviewed on the ground, today.
“Tomorrow (today), we are going to review this thing, the third lane, we are not using the third lane presently, but we are going to review it tomorrow” Traffic Chief Isles noted. In the meantime, while the traffic is backed up for miles on the East Bank and West Coast and West Bank of Demerara, the traffic heading south (towards Timehri) continues to enjoy a free flow as the volume is not as significant as what exists on the other side of the carriageway.
