New Tobago traffic plan scrapped

The new traffic plan introduced in Scarborough on Monday was unceremoniously scrapped yesterday. Traffic in the capital will now revert to its original system. According to Hilton Sandy, Secretary of Infrastructure/Public Utilities at the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), the temporary plan — which was introduced to ease congestion in the town during the busy Christmas shopping season — was shelved following complaints from businesspeople and residents in the Dutch Fort area, downtown. Dutch Fort is a one-way street where a major change was instituted. Sandy said the police also complained that they did not have the manpower to monitor and enforce the new temporary regulations.

He said a senior officer explained that it was taking almost double the regular personnel for traffic duty to monitor the temporary plan, leaving other areas of policing depleted. There was no announcement that the temporary plan was being shelved. This only became evident when workmen from the Infrastructure/Utilities Division, who had painted the new signs/directions in the first place, were seen painting over these signs in black. The new signs were painted last weekend. At yesterday afternoon’s post-Executive Council meeting press briefing, Sandy stated: “It’s an unfortunate situation that took place with the traffic changes in Scarborough.

Several changes were made without discussions with the Secretary of Infrastructure/ Public Utilities and the police.” Sandy claimed the only change agreed on was a re-direction of entry/exit to the one-way Dutch Fort Street. “On Monday, a chaotic situation arose, and the THA and the Secretary of Infrastructure/ Public Utilities were accused of changing the traffic in Scarborough,” he noted. He said that any changes in the traffic system had to be instituted by the police in tandem with the Licensing Department and the Minister of Works/Transport — in this case, the Secretary of Infrastructure/ Public Utilities.