BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WITH the rapidly increasing vehicle population in St. Kitts, the Public Works Department - in conjunction with ADeB Consultants - is in the process of conducting a survey to determine whether the mounting of traffic lights or alternative traffic management measure is needed.
Public Works Director Cromwell Williams, in an interview with SKNVibes, explained that construction of the F.T. Williams Highway, otherwise known as the West Basseterre Bypass Road, was the last major traffic management measure implemented.
The road provides an alternative route for those motorists who would be travelling to and from the western and eastern outskirts of Basseterre, thereby alleviating some of the possible traffic congestions.
He explained that it has now become necessary to explore other traffic management options to be employed and a survey is one of the tools being used to assist in this decision-making process.
For a two-day period, Friday last (Sept. 30) being one of them, 13 major junctions within Central Basseterre were monitored and the number of vehicles passing through each were recorded.
“We haven’t really looked at that yet. That is all part of what the consultants along with us will be looking at over the coming weeks and months, but as of now we haven’t don’t that because that is all part of the study.
“We realise traffic congestion is getting worse by the week, by the month and by the year; so we have to begin now to really see what we can do to avoid it getting to a point where it is so congested. We have to begin now to look seriously at what steps or measures we can take to mitigate.
“There are a number of traffic management initiatives that have been used in other countries, some more developed and more advanced that we are. So there are more options or combinations of steps. But it would be a bit premature for me to say, because what we are doing now is getting an idea of what the numbers are and see where we go from there,” Williams explained.
He said the key junctions or intersections which are being monitored include the main access points into the Basseterre area, such as Wellington Road, Pond Road, Cayon Street from the west and College Street which receives traffic from the St. Peters area.
Williams stated that a day in this week would also be used for data collection, after which an exploratory review of the pooled information would be done.
“Then we will do the analysis of the data and that will tell us certain things. It will give us some information as to what they can then feed into their modules in terms of designing traffic lights, and they will see how it goes from there.”
Williams said ADeB Consultants is the same firm with which the Public Works Department has been working “over the past two years or so on the upgrade of the Dr. Kennedy Simmonds Highway. So we are doing this more-or-less under the same project”.
