Frankie Khan: New South highway to unplug traffic

A new link-highway from Barataria to the Grand Bazaar is just one of many measures to ease traffic congestion announced by Minister of Works and Transport, Franklyn Khan, in his contribution to the Budget on Monday evening in the House of Representatives.

He preferred this new measure to ease congestion at the intersection of the Churchill Roosevelt and Uriah Butler Highways, to the former UNC’s regime’s plan for an arch-like overpass. The link-highway, he said, would convey traffic from Barataria initially travelling from west to east along the Churchill Roosevelt Highway and convey it onto the Uriah Butler Highway just south of the Grand Bazaar to travel in a north to south direction. He quoted a ministerial, technocratic document dated October 2003 which said building the UNC’s proposed interchange would simply transfer traffic bottlenecks to other intersections. Instead, he said, his Southern Link Road, would not only unplug the controversial intersection, but also increase our highway’s actual capacity. Painting the larger picture, he said: “The solution to our problems isn’t just to build roads. The country needs a mass transit system, to pull employment opportunities eastwards, in conjuction with the Wallerfield Park.” He said an Indian company was preparing a concept paper on our traffic situation, and if approved, the Government would invite international tenders to do the job. “We are looking at short-term, medium-term and long-term, as we plan for development to 2020.”

Saying that apart from the Mucurapo-Foreshore Highway, no new highways had been built in the country since a former PNM Government had built the Solomon Hochoy Highway, Khan said the Government was now going to open up the country through its road construction programme. Saying many exciting things were about to happen, he added: “If you leave Trinidad now and come back in five years time, take a taxi because you’ll get lost.” He promised to build 100 kilometres of highways throughout the country for less than the $1.6 billion cost of the controversial Piarco Airport Terminal built by the UNC administration. These highways, whose contracts are to be awarded by November, were Golconda to Point Fortin ($600 million); Churchill-Roosevelt Highway from Wallerfield to Sangre Grande ($400 million); and San Fernando to Mayaro ($300 million). He said the Government had already awarded five contracts under the Highways Programme worth a total of $192 million. By year-end it will award contracts totalling $300 million to build 120 kilometres of roads and 40 bridges in areas as diverse as Caura Royal Road, Morne Coco Road, and Naparima-Mayaro Road.