Interchange done by June 2007

IT IS FINAL! By June 2007, the interchange at the Churchill Roosevelt and Uriah Butler Highways will be completed in an effort to alleviate the traffic woes, especially for commuters travelling West to South. Minister of Works and Transport Colm Imbert and engineers at the ministry yesterday chose a final design for the project from Canadian consultants Cansult. Construction of the project is now firmly scheduled to start in December. After a short meeting with Cansult at his London Street office yesterday, Imbert told Newsday that the interchange will not be “fancy, but something tried and tested in other countries for many years and found to be an excellent solution” to traffic problems.

Imbert gave the assurance that the design will be “as cost effective as possible.” He said the design will be “fine-tuned” and presented to the media and other stakeholders in August. Yesterday’s meeting with Cansult was called to finalise the best option for the flow of traffic from West to South, which is considered the major cause of the congestion at the highway’s intersection. Imbert said seven options were presented as a solution to the congestion from West to South. “We have chosen what we consider to be the best solution,” which Imbert described as “excellent.” Keeping the design close to his chest, the minister promised, “There will be a free flow of traffic from West to South that will be completely uninterrupted. It will be designed to have three lanes, but in the first instance, there will be two lanes.”

He is also promising that there will be an “elevated diamond flyover which will allow for free movement of traffic from Bamboo Number 1 to Bamboo Number 2.” He said he expects everyone in the Bamboo to be “very happy,” and that there will be no conflict. Imbert added that the traffic coming out of Grand Bazaar heading West will no longer have a difficulty “making a sharp U-turn and crossing the various lanes” on the Uriah Butler Highway. Instead the traffic will go over the existing highway, he said. As for the South to West traffic, the minister said, “instead of the sharp right angel bend, there will now be a smooth curve from South to West.”

He said the 18-month project will use prefabricated systems and he has been promised that once there are no “unforeseen circumstances” to delay the December start, “I have been promised I will be taken for a drive on the completed interchange in June 2007.” Earlier this week, Imbert said, “that another year will not pass without construction commencing on this project.” He said the priority was to get it started. The project will not be done by the ministry but tendered out through the National Infrastructure Development Company (NIDCO). The idea of the interchange was first raised when the UNC was in government. When the PNM came into Government, the idea was shelved but revisited by former works minister Franklin Khan as a measure to alleviate traffic. The ministry has several other plans in place to ease traffic into Port-of-Spain and Chaguanas.